When the Storm is Over
by TayaHearts
Summary: Occurs after New Moon. Jacob is pining away for Bella, whom he lost to the vampires, and his life seems meaningless. Then a new family moves to La Push, a family with a dark secret, and everything changes.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is my first posted fanfiction on this site. I don't particularly like the Twilight novels. I hate pretty much all the characters except the werewolves, Alice, Emmet, Jasper, Carlisle, and Charlie. I think the plot is stupid. I really, REALLY hate Edward and Bella and their crazy relationship. But for some reason I just couldn't put the stupid things down. I think I read all four in under a week. But anyway, I decided to write this little piece to satisfy my imagination. Please read and review : )**

It was raining heavily as he ran, fat droplets dripping off the slick leaves of the evergreen trees. He ran faster than he'd thought possible, the wind whistling in his ears, making his eyes water. His enormous copper paws hardly touched the sodden ground, though they should have been earth-shattering because of his size. The warm summer rain dripped through his thick, shaggy fur, but he hardly noticed. He was happy, really and truly happy. This surprised him. It had been a while since Jacob had felt that way.

Then, without warning, his happy feeling was replaced by an intense and blinding pain. He stumbled to a halt, howling violently as spots clouded his vision. When the bright stars cleared a little, Jacob noticed two things immediately.

The first was that his front right paw was trapped in a steel bear trap. It wasn't just any normal bear trap either; it was enormous. Big enough to capture a giant wolf, in any case. It clearly hadn't caught its intended prey, but Jacob was caught at any rate.

The second thing he noticed was that he was not alone in the small clearing. He turned his pain-clouded eyes to the right and saw a girl kneeling in the mud, a small paring knife in one hand and a hand-made leather pouch in the other. She was gaping at him, too shocked to move. Jacob couldn't blame her. An enormous wolf had just skidded to a painful halt just a few yards from where she knelt.

Jacob didn't recognize the girl, which surprised him. They were in the forest surrounding La Push, the Quileute Indian reservation where Jacob lived, so the girl should have been a Quileute. She clearly wasn't. Even though her skin was sun-kissed and bronze, she was not Native American. Her hair was a strawberry-blonde color, something nobody on the reservation had. It was curly, and pulled back in a loose braid. The rain was slicking it to her forehead and neck. She was dressed in a dark blue sundress that was completely drenched from the rain, though she didn't seem to notice. She also didn't notice the way the wet cotton clung to the curves of her figure, just stared at the giant wolf with enormous blue eyes. She was barefoot, and her feet were muddy, as were her knees under the skirt of the blue sundress.

Another bright flash of pain shot through his right forepaw, and Jacob let out a low, whining growl as the intensity momentarily blinded him.

"You poor thing…" The girl murmured, surprising him. Jacob glanced her way. She had risen from her kneeling position, dropping both her paring knife and the bittersweet nightshade she had been gathering into the Native American pouch. Slowly, ever so slowly, the girl took a minute step towards him. "Don't eat me. Don't eat me." She chanted under her breath. Her voice was light and lovely, distracting Jacob momentarily.

As he watched in fascination, pain forgotten, the girl inched closer to him, closing the gap between them. Then, keeping her intensely blue eyes locked on his black ones, she knelt before him and wrenched the enormous metal bear trap open with a great deal of effort.

When he felt the pressure on his leg alleviate, he stepped backwards immediately. The girl let the metal jaws of the bear trap clang shut, the sound reverberating around the calm clearing. A few birds fluttered from the trees above them, startled by the sharp noise.

The girl kept very still as she kneeled in the mud, never taking her eyes off Jacob's. She looked afraid that he still might bite her. To show his appreciation at being helped, Jacob licked her cheek with his long, rough red tongue. The girl laughed delightedly at his reaction and reached up to scratch behind his ears pleasantly.

Jacob allowed her to do so for a moment, then he nuzzled her forehead and disappeared into the forest, running more carefully this time. He knew his brothers would laugh at him for thanking the girl, but she _had_ helped him out. It would have taken any one of his brothers a minute or two to reach him. He was a good ways out in the woods.

Jacob was in rather a foul mood when he arrived at the home he shared with his father, Billy. He morphed back into the six-foot-one Quileute Indian boy he really was, leaving his wolf form behind for now. He grabbed the pair of blue jeans he'd left hanging on the porch railing and pulled them on over his lean, muscular form. Then he entered the house.

Billy was sitting in his wheelchair in the kitchen, cleaning one of his rifles. He glanced up at his son's entrance and noted his disheveled appearance. "Did you have an interesting afternoon?" He queried.

"Mm." Jacob muttered noncommittally, going over to the refrigerator and grabbing a carton of orange juice. He was reluctant to share his strange encounter with the even stranger girl in the forest with his nosy father. It was a private, embarrassing moment, and his brothers would already know about it. He didn't think his father needed to know as well. His right arm was already completely healed, hiding all evidence of the bear trap.

Billy returned to cleaning his gun while Jacob drained the carton of orange juice and tossed the empty carton into the garbage bin. "Well, don't make any plans for tomorrow afternoon." He said in an off-hand sort of voice.

This caught Jacob's attention. "Why?"

"An old friend of mine moved back into town." Billy answered, still nonchalant. "He's getting on up in years, and his house needs some repairs that he can't do himself. I told him I'd send you over a couple afternoons a week to help out for a month or so."

Jacob let out a low, frustrated growl. "Dad," He complained. "I don't really think that Sam will approve of that-"

"Sam will do what I tell him." Billy said darkly. "Dammit, Jake, can't you just do what you're told and try not to be rude? Besides, it's summer vacation. You've got nothing better to do."

Jacob knew better than to argue, but he was grumbling under his breath as he set about making dinner for him and his father.

**I know this was a short chapter. The others won't be as short. This story is already completely written. This is only 1 1/2 pages of a 43 page story, so there's still quite a bit to come. Please leave me reviews! **


	2. Chapter 2

**So here's chapter two. Thanks (I think) to my one reviewer so far. It's okay though. I don't hold it against anybody for not reviewing the first chapter. It's pretty dull. This chapter is much longer and much more interesting. Also, in response to a question, yes, this story is already completely written. I'm sorry if you think that's rude, but if I posted chapters as I wrote them I would end up getting bored halfway through and not finishing. This way ya'll get the whole story. Plus I update often, so you won't have to wait long for more chapters. Well I didn't mean for this author's note to be a book, so here's the next chapter. Please leave me reviews! **

Jacob was feeling rebellious and reluctant when he pulled up in front of Albert Howard's house on the Quileute Indian reservation Wednesday afternoon. He didn't want to help out around some old guy's house; it probably wasn't even safe. Besides, he couldn't get the girl from the day before out of his head. It was like no matter what he tried to think about, she was there, slowly tugging his concentration towards her image, her memory.

The house was tall and narrow, built of wood like all the other houses on the reservation. It had a wide yard, mostly dirt but with a few odd clumping of lazy summer grass waving in the breeze. A rickety wooden shed was built on the edge of the yard, next to which was parked a rusty-colored old Toyota truck that was probably twice Jacob's age.

He looked up at the house reluctantly as he climbed off his motorcycle and shoved the keys into the pocket of his blue jeans. A noise from the shed made him look up, and then a girl came out of it, her arms loaded down with pieces of scrap metal.

Jacob couldn't believe his eyes. The girl was dressed in a pair of very short denim cutoffs and a red-striped tank top, revealing a great deal of her gorgeous sun-kissed legs. She was wearing a pair of black leather cowboy boots and a backwards baseball cap. Her curly blonde hair, quite long, was pulled back into two braids tied with red ribbons. She had an oval face with big blue eyes, an upturned nose sprinkled with freckles, and a full heart-shaped mouth. It was the same girl who had rescued him from the bear trap the afternoon before.

Her eyes flicked over and caught sight of him, and a wide smile spread across her pretty face. Jacob felt his heart flutter at the sight of it. "Hey there!" She called, dumping the scrap metal into the bed of the old rusty truck and pulling off her thick gloves. "You must be Jacob Black. Your dad said you'd be coming to help out Al. That's real nice of you." She wiped her sweaty hand on the seat of her shorts, then held it out to him cheerfully. "I'm Marlie Cromwell."

"Nice to meet you." Jacob muttered, shaking her hand for only the briefest of moments. He silently prayed that she didn't notice how hot his hand was.

The girl glanced up towards the house. "I'm not exactly sure what it is Al has you out here to do, so you may as well go in and ask him. He's in the living room." And with that, she gathered her spare metal parts back into her arms.

Jacob started up the rickety wooden steps towards the house, then stopped. He couldn't help himself. "What are you going to do with all that scrap metal?" He asked.

"I'm not really sure yet." Marlie admitted, almost dropping a piece. "It's been piled up in this shed for God knows how long, and I'm just trying to get it out of there right now." She glanced at him slyly. "Why? Did you want it?"

"I could use it." He admitted.

She dumped an armload into a pile by the front porch. "I'll leave it here for you then." She told him, brushing her hands off on her shorts again. "You can come and get it whenever you want."

"Thanks." Jacob murmured, and he ducked into the house. He had to duck because he was so tall these days. The house was arranged much like his own, and he peeked into the living room with a bit of trepidation. An old, balding man was perched in an armchair, watching reruns on television and filling out a crossword puzzle. "Um, Mr. Howard?" Jacob knocked uncertainly on the doorjamb to get the old man's attention.

Albert Howard got to his feet, throwing down his crossword puzzle. His face was long and wary as it leered at Jacob, his dark eyes glaring at the Quileute boy. "You the Black boy?" He demanded.

Jacob ducked his head. "Yes sir. My dad said you needed some help around your place?"

Al grumbled some more, but nodded. "Today I'm going to have you fix the roof. Quite a few shingles blew away since I last lived here. You should find tools in the shed out there, though you'll probably have to pick up the replacement shingles and whatnot. Just get Annie to give you some money when you go to the store. When you get done with that, you can start fixing that old truck out there. I need it to run." Then he picked up his crossword puzzle book, settled back down in his recliner, and turned the volume up on the television set. Jacob had no choice but to wander back out into the yard.

Marlie was still pulling pieces of scrap metal out of the rickety shed, tossing them onto the steadily growing pile she had set aside for Jacob. When she saw him come out, she grinned cheekily. "So, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome," She teased. "What's the verdict?"

"I'm supposed to fix the roof." Jacob explained, forcing himself not to blush. "Mr. Howard said there are tools in the shed."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't call him Mr. Howard." She corrected. "He's insane. You can just call him Al. And as for finding tools, good luck."

"What do you mean?" He inquired.

She motioned to him. "Come and see for yourself." She ducked into the tiny shed, and Jacob followed with some difficulty. He was a very tall boy. "I've been working on this for two days, and I've barely made a dent. I have no idea how Al fit so much junk in here."

"Are these the tools?" Jacob asked, lifting a heavy tool box off the highest shelf.

Marlie looked up in surprise. "I guess they are. I didn't even notice them way up there." She ducked out of the shed and Jacob followed, relieved.

"I guess I'll need to go to the store." He mumbled, more to himself.

She turned to regard his motorcycle with arched blonde eyebrows. "I don't think you'll manage to carry a whole lot of supplies on your bike." She grinned suddenly. "I guess _I'm_ driving! Stay here, and I'll go get my car. It's parked around back." And she started around the side of the house.

"Oh, hey!" Jacob called suddenly, remembering. "I'm supposed to ask somebody named Annie for money to buy the supplies. Who's Annie?"

Marlie grimaced. "Me." She muttered, then disappeared.

A minute later, a bright blue Volkswagen bug came around the corner, a flowered lei hanging from the rearview mirror and a flowered decal on the rear windshield. Marlie was behind the wheel, and she motioned for him to get into the car.

Jacob hesitated, weighing the consequences. If anybody he knew saw him in a car like that, he would never hear the end of it. On the other hand, he would look pretty silly trying to carrying hardware supplies on his motorcycle. In the end, he folded himself into the tiny car.

Marlie regarded him for a moment with her big blue eyes. "Jesus, you're _tall_." She told him.

He chuckled. "Yes, I'm aware of that." She put the car into drive and they pulled away from Al's house. "So _this_ is your car?" He asked, trying to keep his tone polite.

She saw right through him. "Hey, don't bad-mouth my car. He's sensitive." She leaned forward to pat the dashboard. "It's alright, baby. He didn't mean it."

"So why does Al call you Annie?" Jacob inquired, eager to hear her speak more. Her light, trilling tone was oddly hypnotic.

She grimaced again, tapping her steering wheel impatiently. "It's my name, I suppose. Marlianna, I mean." She rolled her eyes at him, laughing. "Silly, I know. But what can you do? So I mostly go by Marlie, but Al still insists on calling me Annie. I hate it."

"How do you know Al?" Jacob asked next.

She laughed again. "Can't you see the resemblance? Well, I guess it's flattering if you don't. Al is my grandpa."

"That's nice that you live with your grandfather." Jacob replied, tapping his fingers on his knee nervously. "Don't you miss your parents?"

Her smile vanished and she shrugged. "My parents died when I was three." She explained. "It was a car accident."

"I'm so sorry." Jacob was mortified that he'd brought the subject up at all. Having lost his own mother in a car accident, he knew the pain she must have been gone through.

Marlie just shrugged again. "It was a _long_ time ago. Don't worry about it." She assured him with a sweet smile. "Anyway, when they died, my parents had been living with my mom's folks. After the accident, they decided they couldn't really take care of me. Even though they'd despised my dad, they found Al, my dad's father, and I went to live with him. We left La Push about four months after I came to live with him."

Jacob was eager to hear her speak more. "Where did you move to?"

"Southern California." Her grin was back. "Can't you tell from the tan?" She teased.

"So how-" He began, but Marlie held up a finger to silence him.

"No, no." She told him sternly. "You have already filled your question quota for the day." She informed him matter-of-factly. "It's my turn to ask the questions now."

Jacob grinned. "Alright, but you only get one question, so you'd better choose wisely."

"Why do I only get one question?" She pouted.

"Because I said so." He returned promptly. "Now are you going to ask your one question or not?"

She pursed her lips thoughtfully, making them into even more of a heart shape. Finally she said, "What would you be doing if you didn't have to help out at Al's today?"

The question took Jacob by surprise. He'd been expecting something easy, like his age or favorite color or something. He was so surprised that he answered honestly. "I'd probably be moping around, hanging out in the woods and such."

She peered at him from the corners of her eyes. "Why would you be moping?"

"Nope, sorry. That was your one question for the day." He replied, feeling his dark face turn crimson. He hadn't meant to bring _her_ up. It was still a sore subject.

Marlie didn't seem perturbed at being silenced. "Okay." She agreed. "Well, we're here anyway. The interrogation will have to continue at another time."

Jacob unfolded himself from the car, glancing around quickly to see if any of his friends were around. Thank god they weren't. He followed Marlie into the store, but she stopped just beyond the door and looked at all the supplies in consternation.

"I don't even know where to start looking." She admitted in response to Jacob's questioning look.

He laughed out loud, something he hadn't done in quite a while, and took Marlie's hand to lead her over to the roofing section of the hardware store. He almost forgot he was holding her hand; it felt so nice and small and warm in his own. Marlie didn't seem to mind either; she followed him along happily, humming a strange tune to herself.

They reached the roofing aisle and Jacob dropped her hand, somewhat reluctantly, to look at the selections of shingles. "What do you think about this one?" He asked her.

She gave him a blank stare. "I know nothing about anything having to do with construction." She informed him.

He smiled, then selected the type of shingles and tucked them under his arm. They walked up to the cash register, where Marlie paid for everything with a credit card in Al's name, and then they loaded up her bug with their purchase.

"Your car is so small." Jacob complained as he folded himself back into the tiny vehicle.

She gave him a stern look as she backed out of her parking spot and left the hardware store. "Well, you know the solution then, don't you?" She chided him. "Next time, bring your own car. Until we get that old truck running again, this baby is all Al and I have got."

When they got back to the house, Marlie brought Jacob the ladder from the shed, and he clambered onto the roof and began fixing it. There wasn't as much damage as he'd initially thought, so he moved fairly quickly through the work.

He'd been up on the roof for about forty-five minutes when Marlie's head popped up over the edge of the roof. She came up the ladder, balancing two glasses of ice cold lemonade in one hand. She settled down onto the roof and held one of the glasses out to Jacob.

Sweat was pouring down his neck and shoulders; he couldn't remember being quite so hot in a long time. "Thanks." He mumbled, accepting the glass and gulping the icy contents down at once. Marlie looked at him solemnly for a moment, then held the second glass out to him. "No, no. You drink it." He insisted.

"I can always go and get more." She assured him. "Besides, I'm down there in the shade. It's got to be at least fifteen degrees hotter up here. Take it."

He took the glass and drained it too.

Marlie set the two empty glasses carefully on the roof so they wouldn't roll, then she lay back with her arms above her head to soak in the sun. "It's very different here than in California." She told him, closing her eyes against the brightness. "Where I'm from, this is the type of weather we have in February or March."

"It must be very hot during the summer then." Jacob couldn't even fathom a place where it was hotter than La Push in the summertime.

She squinted at him and nodded. "It is." Then she got to her knees and started climbing back down the ladder, the empty glasses balanced in her left hand. "I'll let you get back to work." She told him, and then she was gone.

It took Jacob another half an hour to finish up the roof, and then he gathered his tools and descended the ladder.

"Jacob!" Marlie called as he carried the ladder back over to the shed. "I think I've about finished! Come and look!"

He obligingly ducked into the shed with the ladder, leaning it up against the wall. Marlie had managed to clear out all the rubbish and debris, and everything that was left was organized with precision and reason. "It looks nice." He told her politely.

"Are you done for the day then?" She asked, eyeing the ladder.

He shook his head. "No, I'm supposed to work on that old Toyota truck." He told her.

Her eyes lit up. "Do you like cars then? And mechanics?"

"Yeah, I guess I do." Jacob nodded. That was an understatement. He _loved_ working on cars; it was all he had to keep him occupied these days. He went around to the truck and popped the lid. He caught Marlie staring intently into the engine, and he smiled. "You don't know anything about these things, do you?"

She paused for a moment, then allowed a sly smile to creep across her face. "No, I don't know anything." She agreed.

So Jacob launched into his explanation of what each part was called, and what its function was. He pointed out what was wrong with the engine and then he explained what he was going to do to make it work again. "Would you like to help?" He offered.

"Sure, if you don't mind me messing things up." She laughed.

He laughed with her. He couldn't remember laughing so much in a very long time. "Well, we'll start by disconnecting the battery." He explained. "It's dead, so we'll have to replace it, but in any case, we don't want any accidents. Now, to disconnect it, you just pull those wires right there out of their clasps."

"It's not dangerous, is it?" She asked with trepidation.

He grinned. "No, not at all. Go ahead."

She leaned down and yanked the wires free. "Like that?"

"Exactly." He complimented her, and she beamed.

Before either of them realized just how much time had passed, the sun had begun to go down over the western horizon. Marlie looked up and wiped sweat from her forehead, leaving a big streak of grease across the smooth, tanned skin there.

The front door to the house opened and Al came out onto the porch with his walking stick. "It's about time for you to head home, boy." He called to Jacob. "I don't want to hear nothing from your daddy about how I'm over-working you!" He stopped when he caught sight of Marlie with grease on her forehead. "Dammit, Annie, how many times have I told you it's not ladylike to work on cars?" He demanded in consternation. "Just because you _can_ take a car apart and put it back together doesn't mean you _should_!"

Jacob gaped at Marlie. "You can take a car apart and put it back together?" He repeated stupidly.

She just winked at him and dashed up the steps into the house. "See you later, Jake!" And she disappeared behind Al.

**Okay, so there you go. Chapitaire deux. I'm taking French, can you tell? Hmmm maybe I'll write my next author's note entirely in le francais. I'm in 2010 after all, and I'll be taking 2020 next semester. I'm rambling now. Bleh. Review s'il vous plait! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, here is chapter three. It's very short. I apologize. Leave me reviews please! I only have one so far, but lots of hits. If you like it, please review. Just tell me that you like it or such. **

Jacob could think of nothing except Marlie for the rest of the evening and all day Thursday. He was supposed to hang out with his best friends, his brothers, but he couldn't keep his mind on anything except the strange blonde girl who had rescued him in the woods. Quil was starting to get angry.

"Look, dude, just stop thinking about her for five seconds!" He begged, and Jacob flushed crimson again. He had tried to avoid wolfing out, because that's when his pack knew his thoughts, but it was unavoidable. Now the other five were perfectly aware of his intensely strong feelings for Marlie Cromwell.

Jacob shook his head. "I'm _trying_." He muttered.

Embry pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Do you think maybe you've imprinted?" He broached the subject carefully, knowing it was a sore spot with Jacob.

Sam and Jared, the only two of the pack who _had_ imprinted, shook their heads. "No, it feels different when you imprint." Jared explained. "Not like this."

"There's definitely _something_ up, though." Sam murmured thoughtfully. "Maybe we should keep an eye on her for a couple days, just in case."

So it was that Jacob ended up sitting outside Al Howard's house Thursday night, keeping an eye on the window in the upstairs bedroom. His heart, in his wolf's body, pounded for a moment when she appeared at the window about midnight. She was dressed in a thin cotton tank top and a pair of panties, her long curly hair tumbling down her back. She was gorgeous, Jacob thought to himself. She glanced out the window briefly, then disappeared from the window and turned the lights off.

**I told you it was quite short today. Chapter four is short too, but longer than this. Chapter five is quite long, I believe. So please review and such. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for such a long interval between postings. I have been quite distracted because I recently found out that I'm pregnant! But I'll be able to keep things posted often from now on. This chapter is fairly short, but it's the last short chapter. **

**Emmerald: sorry about the short chapters! longer ones are on their way!**

**Soul of Doom: no, Marlie's not a witch. she does have a secret, but she's not a witch. and i got the name cromwell from oliver cromwell, who did some hostile takeover stuff in britain a couple centuries ago. i just always liked it : ) **

Jacob was looking forward to seeing Marlie face-to-face again, but she was nowhere to be seen when he pulled up in front of Al's house Friday afternoon in the truck he'd borrowed from Billy. He climbed out of the truck and up the steps to the house, knocking on the front door.

It took a moment for Al to appear at the door, and a moment longer for Jacob to register the disappointment he felt that it wasn't Marlie. "Right on time, boy." Al muttered to him approvingly, peering through his glasses closely. "All I've got for you today is to do as much work on the truck as you can. I know you'll need to buy some parts, but Annie isn't here today and you'll have to wait for her to go to the store."

"Yes sir." Jacob nodded politely. Then, because he couldn't stop himself, he added, "Where _is_ Marlie today? I mean Annie?"

Al paused for a moment, a serious look on his unpleasant face. "Today is June eleventh." He explained, as if that would mean something to Jacob. Upon seeing the lack of comprehension on Jacob's face, Al continued. "It's the day her parents died." He said grimly, and Jacob felt a numb spot in the pit of his stomach. After all, it was the day Al's son had died too.

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry." Jacob nodded politely.

Al looked at him closely. "There's this field in the forest that Annie has found. She likes to go there to think." Then he went back inside.

Jacob got to work on the truck, thinking to himself. Why would Al tell him where Marlie had gone if he didn't want him to go after her? Maybe cheer her up? Maybe she wouldn't even want him to come. After all, it was a touchy day.

He still hadn't made up his mind by the time he finished up on the car an hour and a half later. There was still work to do, but he couldn't proceed without more parts, so he called it a day. He said goodbye to Al, then climbed back in Billy's truck and drove home.

When he got home, he had decided. He pulled off his clothes, laying them in the seat of the truck, and took off into the woods in his wolf form. As soon as Al had mentioned a field in the forest, Jacob had known exactly where Marlie was. He ran towards the meadow with his paws pounding against the hard ground, moving quickly with his long, loping run.

He stopped just short of the meadow, peering closely through the trees with his excellent vision. He couldn't go any closer as a wolf for fear of being seen; he was very large, after all, and didn't blend into the foliage as well as he would have liked. On the other hand, he couldn't risk turning back into a man. What would Marlie think if she saw him, naked and spying on her? He couldn't take that risk, so he stayed hidden in the shadows as a wolf.

Marlie was lying on her back on a blanket spread out in the meadow, her arms propped behind her head. She was dressed in a white sundress, and her hair had been straightened so that it fanned out beneath her head like a halo. She was sucking on a piece of a Twizzler and listening to her iPod on her headphones, tapping her foot in time to the music.

Jacob settled down on his paws to watch, not caring if his pack knew, not caring if they saw.

**okay, please review!! the next chapter will be coming soon!! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright, you guys. Here is chapter five. As promised, this is a longer chapter. In fact, they are all longer chapters until the very last one, which is sort of like an epilogue. Sort of. Anyway, thanks for all the congratulations! I was sort of scared about being pregnant at first, but I'm warming up to the idea very quickly! I am officially 7 weeks today! And oh yeah, I don't own anybody or anything that belongs to Stephanie Meyers, okay? **

The weekend was agony for Jacob. Even though he spent the majority of every evening outside Marlie's window, he couldn't wait to see her face-to-face again, to talk to her.

He was so eager to see her again that he arrived at Al's house a little early Monday afternoon. He was not disappointed. Marlie was sitting in the bed of the old rust-colored Toyota truck, waiting for him. She was wearing baggy blue jeans with holes ripped all over and a tight-fitting black halter top that showed a sliver of her tanned stomach, along with her usual black cowboy boots. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun at the nape of her neck, lone curls falling loose to frame her face.

"Hey Jacob!" She called cheerfully, waving to him. "I see you got more done on the truck on Friday."

He gave her a wry look as he climbed out of Billy's truck. "Yeah, I did. Why didn't you tell me you knew how to work on cars? You just let me go on and on last week."

She laughed lightly, jumping off the truck and dusting off the seat of her baggy blue jeans. "It was nice to hear someone else talk about it the way I do." She rolled her eyes. "Al thinks it's an inappropriate hobby for a girl. I don't know what he wants me to do instead, play with dolls or something." She laughed again.

Jacob felt more at ease as she turned her brilliant smile on him. "Well, I've got a list of things to buy to finish up the truck. It shouldn't take long."

"Oh, thank god." She glanced at the huge pile of garbage she had accumulated from cleaning out the shed. "It'll be nice to take all this rubbish to the dump."

Jacob gestured to Billy's truck. "You ready to make a run to the store?"

"Of course." She grinned impishly and climbed into the front passenger seat. She pursed her lips at him as he pulled away from Al's house. "We could have made the trip in _my_ car."

He laughed, draping his arm across the back of the seat. "Okay, okay. Your car isn't so bad." He conceded. "But we can't fit the supplies in your trunk, so we need my dad's truck."

She leaned her head back against the seat; a few curls brushed against his bare forearm, and his skin tingled from the contact. "I guess so." She agreed.

Jacob drove them to the hardware store, where Marlie used Al's credit card to pay for their supplies, and then they returned to Al's house to finish up the old Toyota truck. It was late afternoon when they finished, but the truck ran smoothly.

Jacob glanced over at the rather enormous pile of garbage and then up at the sky. "We've still got some daylight left if you want to make a run to the dump."

She followed his gaze over to the rubbish pile. "Yeah, let's do that." She agreed. "I can't stand to look at so much garbage for another day."

Wearing thick gloves, the two of them loaded up Al's newly resurrected Toyota truck with the garbage that had come out of the shed and from around the yard and in the house. Then Marlie climbed behind the wheel, Jacob got in the front passenger seat, and they started for the dump.

"Okay, I've got my four questions for you." Jacob said as he directed her around town towards the dump on the outskirts of La Push. "Number one: Why did you and Al move back to La Push from California? It's got to be nicer there than here in Washington."

She didn't answer immediately, just drummed her fingernails on the steering wheel as she waited for the red light they were stopped at to change. "I'm not entirely sure." She admitted. "Al got a phone call one day from your dad, and the next thing I knew we had packed up a U-Haul and moved here."

"My dad?" Jacob was taken aback. "How do my dad and your grandfather know each other, exactly?"

Again, Marlie took a moment to answer. "La Push is a small town." She explained, keeping her eyes firmly on the road ahead. "My dad and your dad were around the same age. I guess that's how they know each other."

Jacob wanted to get away from the subject of her deceased parents, so he changed tact quickly. "So what did you do for fun back in California?"

"Oh, you know. We surfed a lot." She explained, cheering up immediately. "The waves are killer in Oceanside, where we lived. We spent a lot of time riding horses, and riding four-wheelers, and dirt biking. There's a lot to do in Oceanside."

"Not like in La Push?" He teased.

She grimaced. "Don't get me wrong." She assured him. "La Push is nice. It's just so… boring."

He laughed silently to himself. She wouldn't think La Push was boring if she knew there was a pack of teenage werewolves running around. "So you're more of a get-up-and-go type of girl rather than a sit-at-home-and-watch-TV girl?"

"Yeah, I guess I am." She agreed, pursing her lips again. "It's tough here in Washington." She admitted. "There's not a whole lot to do."

Jacob thought for a moment. "We have a beach." He told her. "The waves are probably smaller than what you're used to, but you _can_ surf on them. Me and my friends sometimes go cliff-diving, which is a rush." Then he grimaced; he hadn't meant to bring that one up.

"I don't think cliff-diving is really my thing." She assured him with a little laugh, and he could barely conceal his relief.

"There are also good trails for hiking." He explained, knowing full well that she liked the forest. "Would you like to go hiking one day?"

She held up a finger to stop him, a smile playing on her full lips. "Oh no." She told him. "You'll have to ask me another day. You've used up your questions for today. Now it's my turn."

He held up a finger too. "Alright. One question."

"Not fair." She argued. "I'm up to two questions by now."

He shrugged; she had a point. "Alright. Two questions." He agreed, but they had reached the dump by this point so her questions had to be put on hold.

They got out of Al's truck and unloaded the garbage from the bed. They worked quickly, however, and the sun was only marginally closer to the western horizon by the time they crawled back into the cab and peeled off their smelly work gloves.

"Alright, time for my two questions." Marlie said with relish, pulling away from the dump. "Number one: why are you so sad all the time?"

Her question caught him off guard, as usual. He kept expecting her to ask him a normal question, like his birthday or his favorite food, but she always surprised him. Then, as her question really sank in, he got defensive. "I'm not sad all the time." He mumbled.

"Alright then," She waved off his rationalization irritably. "Not sad. Just…empty."

Her observation was unnerving. Jacob _knew_ he'd been empty, but he thought he'd been hiding it well. Obviously he wasn't as good an actor as he'd thought. He took a deep breath and glanced out the window. "It's just something that happened a few months ago." He glanced at her imploringly. "I'd really rather not talk about it."

"Question number two:" She continued, glancing at him with her brilliant blue eyes. "How can I help make you not empty anymore?"

Jacob was filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude, and he almost leaned over to kiss her. He stopped himself just in time, but he couldn't keep the warm, natural smile from coming to his face. "You already are." He assured her, taking her hand and giving it a playful squeeze. She returned his genuine smile. "Okay, that's all your questions for today."

"That's not really fair, you know." She pouted, directing the truck towards her grandfather's house. "You get twice as many questions as I do."

He shrugged, frowning as she pulled up the drive. "You'll work up to more questions." He stopped when he saw the two tall Quileute Indian boys perched on the porch steps of Al's house, sipping cans of pop and tossing a baseball back and forth between them. "What are _they_ doing here?" He demanded, more to himself than to Marlie.

She glanced at him as she put the truck into park. "Friends of yours?" She inquired politely, a hint of amusement turning up the corners of her lips.

"You could say that." Jacob practically growled. What were Quil and Embry doing there at Al's? They had no business being there. He climbed out of the truck, followed by Marlie.

The two boys, one far taller than the other, got to their feet and ambled over, waving jovially. "Hey Jake! What's up?"

"I'm working." Jacob growled at them, clenching his hands into fists and glaring at each of them. "What are you guys doing here?"

Quil, the shorter and stockier one, shrugged. "We figured you'd be almost done over here, and Embry and I wanted to go bowling."

"Um, the phone?" Jacob suggested.

Embry interrupted by pushing past Quil and holding out his hand to Marlie. "Hi there. I'm Embry. It's nice to meet you."

"Marlie." She replied, smiling broadly as she shook his hand.

Embry jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Quil, who grinned broadly and waved. "That's Quil. We're Jake's best friends."

"Nice to meet you." Marlie replied, shoving her hands into the back pockets of her baggy blue jeans. Jacob could see both Quil and Embry appraising her; she really _was_ good-looking.

Embry turned back to Jacob. "So are you coming bowling or what, dude?" He glanced at Marlie and winked. "Marlie is welcome to come as well."

Jacob wanted to spend more time with Marlie, but having her hang out with his two best friends couldn't have been a good idea. He couldn't think of a good way to protest without having her think he didn't want to hang out with her, however.

She saved him from the embarrassing situation by shaking her head. "Thanks so much for the invitation, but I can't really leave Al to fend for himself. He starts getting hungry around this time, and him in a kitchen is a recipe for disaster." She laughed her light, trilling laugh that sent shivers up Jacob's spine. "Maybe next time though." She glanced shyly at Jacob. "See you Wednesday. It was nice to meet you all." Then she waved and went into the house.

Jacob turned on his two best friends. "Thanks a lot." He grumbled, climbing behind the wheel of Billy's truck. Quil and Embry squeezed themselves into the cab with him.

"Quit complaining." Quil ordered him sternly. "We thought it would be less creepy if she came and hung out with us, rather than you stalking her house at night?"

"He's right." Embry, the more solemn of the two, agreed. He peered at Jacob closely. "Have you been getting _any_ sleep? You look awful."

Jacob frowned. "Thanks a lot." He grumbled, but he _had _ been spending the last several nights keeping watch on her house. Then he sighed. He knew his friends were just worried about him. "I'll stay home and sleep tonight." He promised.

"Good." Embry sounded satisfied.

**Okay, so Marlie has officially met Jacob's best friends. Yay. Please review! And a special thanks to Emmerald, who reviews EVERY time! Love you, girl! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry it's been a couple weeks since I last updated. I've been working doubles at my job almost every day. Turns out having a baby is quite expensive. **

Jacob thought Wednesday would never come, and when it did, he thought the clock would never reach noon so he could drive over to Al's house. He made himself wait until the digital clock on the stove in the kitchen read 12:00 before he climbed onto his motorcycle and drove over to Al's house.

He was alarmed when Marlie wasn't waiting outside for him when he pulled up. He got off the bike, climbed the porch steps, and knocked on the front door.

The relief was almost overpowering when Marlie came down the hall and opened the door for him. Today she was dressed in a pair of short cotton shorts and an over-sized t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. She was barefoot, and her hair was loose and curly down her back. "Hey Jake." She grinned.

"Hey yourself." He couldn't keep the smile from springing to his lips. Everything about her made him feel comfortable and happy. "Any idea what Al wants me to do today?"

She pursed her lips. "Well, he wants you to uproot those bushes over there," She pointed. "So that he can get somebody in to pour an asphalt driveway." She made an annoyed face. "And he won't let me help. I already asked. He's making me go to the grocery so I won't do any digging." She rolled her eyes at Jacob's confused expression. "He doesn't want me to do anything that isn't girlie. Honestly, sometimes I feel like he thinks of me as a china doll that'll break at any moment." She let out a frustrated sigh. "Anyway, I'll try to hurry back so I can help you."

"Don't worry about it. You don't have to." He assured her, even though he wished she would. She simply winked at him, shoved her feet into her cowboy boots, and climbed behind the wheel of her grandfather's truck.

Jacob set to work on the bushes. It should have taken him a long time to get up all five of the shrubs, roots and all, but the wolf-gene made him abnormally strong. He was just tossing aside the last shrub when Marlie pulled up in the old Toyota truck, the cab filled with grocery bags.

She let out a low whistle as she climbed out of the truck. "You're already done?" She exclaimed, lifting an armful of bags out of the passenger side of the truck. "You must have gone at the speed of light!"

He tossed down the shovel, laughing, and went to help her carry the groceries in. "I do this sort of stuff for my dad all the time."

"Yeah, I suppose with him in a wheelchair he can't do very much around the house." Marlie murmured, setting the bags she was carrying down on the spotless kitchen counter.

Jacob frowned. "Do you know my dad?" He asked, and she looked up in surprise. "How did you know he was in a wheelchair?"

"I guess Al must have mentioned it or something." She shrugged indifferently, heading out to get more bags from the truck. Jacob followed to help.

When they had unloaded all the groceries from the truck, Jacob sat down in one of the kitchen chairs while Marlie put the groceries away in the cabinets, pantry, and refrigerator. He drummed his fingers on the tabletop, then took a deep breath. "Look, if you're not doing anything tomorrow, do you want to hang out?" He suggested. She stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him, surprised. "We could go to the beach, or if you don't feel like swimming we could-"

"No, the beach sounds like fun." She was smiling now, her eyes glittering excitedly. "What time do you want to pick me up?"

He wondered what was too early. "How about eleven?" He suggested.

She frowned and glanced towards the living room, where Al no doubt sat glued to the television screen and his crossword puzzle. "Better make it ten, if that's not too early." She lowered her voice. "Being alone with Al in this house is driving me crazy! I'd do anything to get out of here, but it's nice to do something I _want_ to do in order to get out of here." She smiled again.

Jacob was elated. "Alright, I'll pick you up at ten."

**I know I promised longer chapters, and this one falls into the "short" category, but longer ones are coming. In fact, the very next chapter is very important. So please review. It makes me happy. On another note, I am 9 weeks and 5 days pregnant today!! Just a few more short weeks and I'll be into the second trimester already! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for my lack of updating. Work has been my life. But now I have strep throat so I can't go back to work until I'm not contagious anymore. Giving me a chance to update this, naturally. Enjoy and please review! **

It was another sleepless night for Jacob, but at least he wasn't padding on four paws around Al Howard's place. Instead he tossed and turned in his own bed, images of a certain blonde, blue-eyed girl flashing through his mind too quickly to pinpoint any certain image. It felt like he hadn't gotten any sleep at all when his alarm went off at nine Thursday morning.

He rubbed his eyes sleepily, then meandered down the hall to the kitchen, where he scrounged up some eggs and toast for breakfast. Jacob was an excellent cook. With his father in a wheelchair, his two older sisters moved away from La Push, and his mother dead these many years, Jacob had to learn how to cook in order to get by. He didn't mind; he liked to cook.

He ambled back to his bedroom, munching on his breakfast, and then hopped into the shower. He didn't know where Billy was; he didn't really care. After a quick shower, he threw on a pair of blue jeans over his swim trunks, yanked on a t-shirt, shoved his feet into his sneakers and hopped on his bike.

It only took him fifteen minutes to get from his house to Al's. He pulled up in front of the porch and turned the bike off. He was going to go to the door and knock, but Marlie was out the front door before he could even get off the bike. She was dressed in the oddest outfit he had yet seen her in. Today it was a pair of black basketball shorts, an oversized t-shirt with the sleeves and neck cut out, and her black cowboy boots. Her hair was pulled back into two French braids, the ends tucked under. She had a black vinyl bag tucked under her arm and a pair of giant black aviator sunglasses perched on her nose.

She dashed across the dirt yard and hopped onto the bike behind him, wrapping her arms tightly around his torso. "Just drive." She muttered darkly.

"What's wrong?" He asked, surprised.

"Al and I had a fight." She muttered tersely. "Drive."

Jacob complied, and the motorcycle roared away from Al's house. Marlie clung to his waist tightly, her face pressed against his back. Even through his t-shirt, Jacob could feel her lips turn up into a smile after a minute. He smiled too and turned the bike towards the La Push beach.

Though the beach was often crowded on the weekends, it was deserted today. Jacob was pleased. He pulled his bike into the parking lot and cut the engine. He glanced over his shoulder at Marlie; she was still grinning.

"Not too windy for you?" He asked, climbing off and holding out his hand to help her off.

She accepted his hand and swung one long leg over the bike. Then she patted her tightly braided hair. Not a curl was out of place. "I wore my hair this way for a reason." Then she flashed him a bright smile. "You know, that was the first time I've ever ridden on a motorcycle."

"Well you did very well for a first-timer." He complimented her, chuckling. He motioned to her and led the way down the steep wooden steps onto the beach.

It was alarmingly hot for the middle of June. The sun was bright, and the dark blue waves crashed against the brown sand, littered with driftwood and seaweed. Little white shells reflected the sunlight, making them glistening beacons half-hidden in the sand.

Marlie didn't speak as she spread out her towel on the sand. Then she balanced on one foot while she pulled her cowboy boots off. She tossed the boots down onto the sand, then pulled her t-shirt over her head. Underneath she was wearing a modest black one-piece bathing suit. The back of the suit was cut low, almost to her tailbone, and the front stretched tight over her chest. Her choice of bathing suit surprised him.

She caught him staring at her as she stripped off her basketball shorts and tossed them onto the pile of clothes. "What?" She demanded shyly, rubbing her hands on the back of her neck.

"Nothing." Jacob shook his head. "I just didn't peg you for a one-piece sort of girl."

Her eyes glittered brightly. "And just what sort of girl am I?" Then she shook her head as if it didn't matter. Either that or she didn't want to know, Jacob thought to himself. "Come on. Let's go swimming! That's what we came here for, isn't it?"

And she dashed across the sand on light feet until she was knee-deep in the cool water. She turned around, the wind whipping the waves against her thighs, and motioned for Jacob to join her. "Come on!" She shouted, waving to him.

Jacob pulled his t-shirt over his head and pulled off his jeans. He plowed into the water beside her, splashing her as he went. She squealed in surprise, then splashed him right back.

It was noon before they dragged themselves out of the water, exhausted from swimming, slightly cold from the chill Washington water. They collapsed onto their towels, laid out next to each other on the hot sand. Marlie lay on her back with her arms stretched out above her. Jacob couldn't help but admire the smooth contour her arms made, stretched up above her head. They were almost a continuation of her neck, angled the way it was. And her chest, with her breasts flattened because of the angle and the tightness of her bathing suit, rose and fell with her even breathing.

She looked over at him and caught him staring again. "What?" She demanded, propping herself up on her elbow so she could see him better.

"Nothing." He shook his head, smiling. He propped himself up to match her position. "I was just thinking about how much fun this was. I haven't had fun like this in a while."

"Me neither." She agreed. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips ever-so-lightly against his. Jacob was completely taken aback; the sensation sent a shock of electricity down his spine.

Marlie pulled back, almost afraid of what she'd done. She seemed just as surprised about it as Jacob was.

He felt an overwhelming sense of emotion towards her, and even though he knew he shouldn't do it, he closed the gap between them and kissed her again. It was a rough kiss; Jacob was a rough sort of person. He crushed his lips to hers, pulling her close. Her arms found their way around his neck, her long fingers entangling themselves in his dark hair. She opened her mouth very slightly, and Jacob ran his tongue over her bottom lip.

Then he pulled away, breathing heavily, weak in the knees. What he was doing was very wrong; he was sure of this. He was a monster, and he couldn't put someone he cared about this much in danger.

Marlie stared at him, her eyes half-closed, surprised. She licked her bottom lip experimentally, tasting him, remembering him.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this." Jacob muttered, running his fingers through his hair awkwardly.

Marlie sat back on her towel, her hands wrapped around one of her ankles. She didn't look surprised. "Is it because of Bella?"

"What? No. I don't care about Bella anymore." Jacob didn't think to wonder how Marlie knew about Bella, but he _was_ surprised that what he said was true. He took a deep breath; why had he let it come to this anyway? "I just… well I can't really explain it." He sighed again. "I think I should take you home now." He got to his feet and pulled his blue jeans on over his wet swim trunks.

Marlie stared at him for a long moment, then slowly stood up and pulled her clothes back on. She stuffed her bare feet into her cowboy boots, crammed her towel into her beach bag, and followed him up the steps into the parking lot. She climbed onto the motorcycle behind him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and pressed her face into his back again. This time, there was no smile.

Jacob drove in silence back to Al's house. He pulled his bike up in front of the porch, but didn't bother to even cut the engine. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow." He mumbled.

Marlie climbed off the bike and gave him a half-hearted smile. "Yeah, see you around." She agreed, then hoisted her bag higher on her shoulder and went into the house.

Jacob was in a foul mood as he drove back to his place. He silently berated himself for ever allowing himself to get so close to Marlie, knowing full well what would happen.

Even Billy noticed when he stormed into the house. He was sitting in the living room, watching television, and he looked up when the front door slammed behind his son. "What's wrong with you?" He demanded, wheeling himself into the kitchen so he could confront Jacob.

"I just had a bad day." Jacob muttered, going to the refrigerator and pulling out a soda. He drained it in one gulp, then tossed the empty can into the garbage bin.

Billy frowned. "I thought you were taking Al's granddaughter to the beach today." He said.

"Yeah, I did." Jacob sighed heavily. "We sort of broke up. Or whatever."

"Why?" Billy demanded, with much more interest than a father should have. "I thought you liked her, and from what Al has told me, she likes you too."

Jacob whirled around on his father. "Are you _insane_?" He growled angrily, feeling his whole body quiver. "I'm a werewolf, dad! I'm _dangerous_! I can't be trusted around normal human beings." His voice was full of self-loathing.

Billy narrowed his dark eyes at his only son. "That girl is a lot stronger than you give her credit for." He said sternly. "She's been through more than you'll ever imagine. I think she'll prove herself to you if you just give her a chance."

Jacob had had enough. "Why do you even care?" He burst out. "You and Al aren't even that good of friends!"

Billy was silent for a moment, and Jacob thought he might not bother answering at all. But then Billy said, "Al and I used to be real close, you know, but we had a sort of falling out. It was over Annie." He took a deep breath. "That girl is better than any of us imagined she could be, and I think she'd be good for you. Understanding, you know."

Jacob left the house without another word, ripping off his clothes and pounding into the forest. He had four legs instead of two in a matter of seconds, and then nothing seemed as bad as it really was.

**Sort of angsty chapter, eh? Ah well. I'm officially 11 weeks and 1 day today! **


	8. Chapter 8

**It's been over a week since I last updated, which really isn't all that bad. I have a few shoutouts: **

**europ92 - no, Marlie can't read minds. She's not like Edward. I actually really dislike the character of Edward (waaay too much angst for me lol) so Marlie really doesn't have anything in common with him. **

**CuteSango07 - thanks for the congratulations! I _am_ really excited. **

**Ally Leigh - Jacob is by far my favorite Twilight character, so I'm really glad you approve of the way I'm portraying him. I also wanted to work hard on Marlie, too. It's very hard not to make an OC into a mary-sue anymore, since everything has been done before, lol, so I appreciate the positive feedback! **

**And oh yes - I've just reread the first novel and realized that Billy Black doesn't have a truck anymore... the red truck he sells to Charlie for Bella was his truck. So I apologize for my continuity error : (**

Jacob's heart was pounding when he pulled up to Al's house on his bike Friday afternoon. He glanced quickly around the yard for Marlie, hoping to make peace, to salvage what remained of their relationship, but she wasn't there. He wasn't surprised.

He climbed the rickety wooden porch steps and knocked on the front door. It took Al a minute to get to it, and when he pulled it open, he peered closely at Jacob through his thick glasses. "Oh, it's you." He grumbled. "I need you to fix that rotten third step on the porch. There should be enough supplies in the tool shed for you to fix it." He turned to go back into the house, but Jacob stopped him.

"Excuse me, sir, but where's Marlie today?" He asked. "I mean Annie."

Al stopped and his face softened momentarily. "Annie was feeling sort of down this morning. I'm not sure why. She went for a hike to think, she said."

"Oh." Jacob mumbled. He should have guessed. Then he added, in response to Al's questioning look, "We sort of had a fight yesterday."

Al nodded as if he could have guessed as much. "I tell you what, boy," He said suddenly. "Why don't you just go find Annie and cheer her up, and you can start on the porch step next week."

Jacob was infinitely surprised and pleased. He wouldn't have expected that sort of compassion from a crotchety old man like Al Howard. "Thank you, sir." He ducked his head politely, then climbed onto his bike and drove back home.

Once there, he stripped off his clothes and carefully attached them to his leg with a long piece of twine. Then he hit the woods running, knowing the path to the meadow quite well. He stopped when he got close and transformed back into a man. He pulled his jeans and t-shirt back on, going barefoot because shoes were just too hard to carry when he was in wolf form. He crept forward noiselessly through the brush, peering through the leafy green foliage for any sign of Marlie.

She was lying on her back in the tall grass of the meadow, her arms folded up behind her head and her knees bent. She was wearing a hot pink sundress made of some light, thin material. It had spaghetti straps and a low-cut neckline. Her plump breasts were being pushed up, almost out of the dress, because of her lying-down position, and the skirt had ridden up to reveal quite a bit of her tanned legs. She had her eyes closed, and she was frowning.

Jacob crept closer, not making a single sound.

"I know you're there, Jacob Black, so quit stalking me." Marlie broke the quiet calm of the June afternoon by saying sharply.

Knowing he was caught, Jacob stood up all the way and strode toward her. She didn't open her eyes when he approached. "Hey, Marlie." He mumbled.

"Hello." She replied smoothly, calmly. She still hadn't moved positions. "I see Al let you off work today."

He took a seat in the grass beside her, but not too close. "Yes. He seemed worried about you."

She sighed heavily and finally opened her eyes. "He's an old fool." She sat up. Her skirt fell back around her knees and her breasts settled back into the dress. Jacob found he was able to concentrate a bit more. She fixed him with a stern blue-eyed stare. "What are you doing here, Jake?"

"I was worried about you too." He admitted. "I handled things badly yesterday."

She held up a hand to stop him, and Jacob noticed how delicate and graceful her hands were. "You didn't handle it badly. You needed to make your intentions clear, and you did."

"What are my intentions then?" He inquired, unable to keep a grin from spreading across his face.

She didn't notice. "You made it clear that you don't care about me that way, and that's fine. You have no obligation to."

"Oh, but you see, you're very wrong." He corrected her firmly. "I _do_ care about you that way. More than I have ever cared about _anyone_."

She frowned at him, trying to figure him out. "If you _do_ care," She said slowly. "Then I don't understand. You care but you don't want to be with me?"

"No, I care and I _do_ want to be with you, but I can't." He amended. "Or at least, I thought I couldn't. But… maybe I can."

She frowned again. "I don't really understand, but I trust you." She finally said. "You have a secret, right? One you can't tell me? And that's why you can't be with me."

He was surprised again by her perceptiveness. "Yes, that's right." He sighed. "I wish I could tell you my secret, because it's bad, but I can't."

"What if I have a secret too?" She asked, her eyes suddenly alight with a feverish fire that Jacob had never seen there before. "What if my secret is worse than yours?"

He laughed at the mere absurdity of it. "I seriously doubt that." He assured her.

She laughed too, though it sounded forced and more than a little hollow. "Perhaps. I'll keep my secret for now, and you keep yours. Maybe, one day, we can be honest about them."

He reached over and gently caressed her soft cheek. It almost seemed to glow in the bright sunlight of the meadow. "That can work." He agreed, and then he kissed her ever so softly on the lips. She didn't pressure him to deepen the kiss, simply enjoyed it, but it wasn't enough for Jacob. He kissed her again, harder, more needy, most passionate. She parted her lips and he plunged his tongue into her mouth, exploring, tasting, memorizing.

They were both breathing heavily when they pulled apart, and both had a hint of a flush in their face. Marlie laughed lightly, brushing her hair back. It was straight today, and so long that she could practically sit on it. "Well, I guess that's settled then."

He pulled her to him in a rough embrace, pressing his lips to the top of her head. "Yes, I guess it is."

**I know, I know. Short chapters and all. I like this one. I think Al is a bit out of character, but I needed him to be. **

**Anyway, so I'm 12 weeks and 6 days pregnant, which is officially into the second trimester, which, so they tell me, is the most comfortable stage of pregnancy. One can only hope! My boyfriend and I have been discussing names. I know it's a little early, but it's going to take us a long time to come to a conclusion : )**

**My favorites for a girl are: Johanna (call her JoJo or Jo), Delilah (Lily for short), Lucie, and Ruby. His are: Rosemary, Summer, and Autumn. **

**For a boy, I like: Noah and Alexander. He likes: Tucker, Connor, and Braydon. **

**What do you guys think about those? We want something that's unique but not going to get them made fun of in school (like rainbow or blanket or apple or other strange celebrity baby names lol). Any suggestions? Baby naming is hard... **


	9. Chapter 9

**I have discovered that, apparently, pregnancy comes in threes. There are two other pregnant girls at work now, one a few weeks more pregnant than me and one a few weeks less. I found that a little odd. And also my roommate is out of town for a week, so I have the entire house to myself. And I think my kitten has a cold, because he keeps sneezing. No good. **

**ImaginativeNess: Thanks for the congratulations! And I'm glad you approve of my interpretation of Jacob. I didn't want to do something like everybody else. **

**Emmmerald: I love all reviews, but when I get one from you, it really makes my day! I'm glad you like the way the story is going!**

**CuteSango07: keep guessing for her secret! You won't find out until the second to last chapter!**

**ally leigh: I'm glad you liked that little bit. I wanted to explain that he was a normal teenage boy underneath everything else. **

On Saturday, Jacob showed up unannounced at Al's house. He climbed off his bike, ascended the porch steps, and knocked sharply on the front door.

It took a moment for someone to appear, but eventually Marlie pulled open the door. She looked completely surprised to see him. She was wearing a pair of short cotton shorts, a loose pink tank top, and no shoes. Her hair hung straight down her back. "Jake?" She pulled open the screen door so he could come inside. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I wanted to introduce you to my friends." He explained, feeling nervous. He'd run the idea of introducing Marlie into their pack past his brothers, and they hadn't been too thrilled. Well, Paul and Sam hadn't, and Sam was the one he needed to get the OK from. "I thought if you weren't doing anything, we could go hang out with them."

Marlie glanced over her shoulder towards the living room, where Al was undoubtedly watching television. "Yeah, just have a seat while I run and get dressed." She gestured to her lounging clothes and smiled. "I wasn't really expecting to go out today." And she dashed upstairs to change.

The thought of going and making small talk with Al didn't appeal to Jacob, so he leaned against the wall in the foyer to wait for Marlie. She came back downstairs in a very short amount of time. Now she was dressed in a brown cotton skirt made out of some sort of flowing material that reached her knees and wafted around her thighs in the light breeze coming through the screen door. She had on a white tank top that contrasted beautifully against her sun-kissed skin and her trusty black cowboy boots.

"You look beautiful." Jacob told her honestly. Every time he saw her, he was struck by her good looks. Her features were perfect, exactly what he would have picked out if he had made her.

She smiled prettily and twirled around so he could admire her skirt. "Come on then, let's go." She suggested. "I'm going out for a while, Al! I'll be back in time for dinner!" She called over her shoulder, and they left the house.

Marlie climbed onto the motorcycle behind Jacob, tying her loose hair back so it wouldn't attack her. She tucked her skirt underneath her thighs so it wouldn't blow up, and then they were off.

Jacob turned the bike towards Emily's house. It was where everyone would be, or at least they would end up there by lunchtime. Emily was the only one who was willing to cook enough food to feed them all. He pulled up in front of the house, narrow and built of wood, and Emily came out onto the front step.

"Hi Jacob." She said, eyeing Marlie coolly. There was a few moments' awkward pause, then Emily said, "Why don't you two come in?" She led them inside, into the kitchen. It was spotless, decorated with yellow polka-dotted wallpaper and red roosters.

Marlie trailed her fingers along the back of a ceramic rooster. "I like your kitchen. It's very pretty." She complimented.

Emily turned around and gave Marlie a wary smile. "Thanks." She mumbled. The right half of her face didn't move because of the scar tissue.

Marlie caught sight of the scarring and her mouth made a little "O" of surprise. "What happened to your face?" She demanded, and before Jacob could stop her, she reached up and ran her soft fingertips along the rough line of Emily's scar.

"I was mauled by a bear a few years ago." Emily explained through tight lips.

Marlie was still stroking the scar, a frown on her face. "What a pity to mar such a stunning face." Then she dropped her hand and shrugged indifferently. "Even so, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Jacob wasn't really sure what exactly happened next. All of a sudden Emily was sobbing uncontrollably, and Marlie was holding her and stroking her silky black hair and whispering that it would all be okay. By the time the rest of the pack arrived half an hour later, Emily and Marlie were perched on the sofa together, their heads bent close in secret conversation. Jacob was seated on the back of an armchair, feeling awkwardly out of place in the house that felt most like home to him.

"Hey, Marlie!" Quil grinned when they walked in. Then, when they all saw Emily and Marlie attached at the hip, they stopped. Sam eyed Marlie suspiciously.

Emily jumped to her feet eagerly, dragging the younger blonde girl behind her. "Marlie, this is my fiancé Sam, the one I was telling you about." She explained. "Sam, this is Jacob's girlfriend Marlianna."

Marlie held out her hand to Sam. "It's nice to meet you." She smiled politely.

Jacob watched with bated breath as Sam hesitated while he deliberated on whether to accept Marlie. It was all well if the others accepted her, but it was really Sam's decision that counted. It was definitely looking good that Emily had taken to Marlie so quickly.

Finally Sam smiled shortly and shook Marlie's hand. "It's nice to meet you, too." Jacob let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in a whoosh. The atmosphere seemed to lighten at once as Emily introduced Marlie to Paul and Jared, the two members of the pack that she had yet to meet.

"Oh, I've got a great idea!" Emily said suddenly, still holding onto Marlie's hand protectively. "Let's go on a picnic! It's such a nice day out today."

Marlie's face matched Emily's enthusiasm. "That's an _excellent_ idea!" She agreed, swinging their clasped hands between them. "I'll help you get the food ready."

The two of them disappeared into the kitchen, and Jacob could hear Emily jokingly mention that the boys ate an awful lot of food. Marlie laughed in response, and then the boys couldn't hear them anymore.

Sam turned on Jacob. "How much have you told her?"

"Nothing." Jacob answered honestly. "I've told her I had a secret, but that's it."

The pack leader frowned, his serious face unusually grim. "What did she say when you told her you had a secret?"

Jacob laughed at the memory of it. "She said that was alright, because she has a secret too, and she figures that hers is worse than mine." Jared and Quil laughed at the absurdity of the idea, and Jacob grinned too.

Sam was still frowning. "This would be different if you'd actually imprinted." He murmured. "But this thing between you… it's different. It's not quite like what happened with me and Emily, or Jared and Kim."

"It _is_ similar though." Jared pointed out, lounging idly on the sofa next to Paul. "The need to be near her, to keep her safe."

Jacob nodded fervently. It felt very much that way with him. "Can I tell her?" He managed to ask, knowing it was a dangerous question.

"No." Sam said at once, but he didn't sound angry; merely thoughtful. "It's still breaking the pact, and I can't have that. She can hang out with us, though, I suppose. Emily seems to really like her."

Jacob frowned, but at least Sam appeared to like Marlie. That was a start, at least. And he hadn't really expected Sam to let him tell her anyway; that had been a long shot and he had known it.

The two girls emerged from the kitchen just then, carrying an enormous wicker picnic basket between them. Emily had a woolen blanket tucked over one arm, and she was smiling more beautifully than any of them had ever remembered. "Are you guys ready to go?" She asked.

They all crammed into Sam's truck. Sam and Paul climbed into the cab, Emily and the picnic basket squeezed in between them. The other four boys and Marlie crawled into the bed of the truck. Marlie sat next to Jacob, tucking her skirt underneath her thighs to keep it down. They left Emily's, and after a few minutes, Sam turned the truck off the main road onto a dirt path that inclined sharply up into the mountains.

The noise made it difficult to talk, though Quil and Jared got in a few teasing comments that made Marlie blush and laugh her infectious tinkling laugh. The truck moved under the sun-dappled trees, going higher and higher. Eventually they reached a circular open area, and Sam pulled off the dirt road and put the truck in park.

Jacob jumped out of the truck bed and held out his arms to help Marlie down. Her skirt fluttered around her thighs, revealing more bare skin than Jacob was comfortable having his brothers see, as he lifted her down. He knew it was an irrational thought, because they saw everything he saw, knew everything he knew.

Emily and Marlie immediately started setting up the food, spreading out the blanket and setting out the bowl of fruit salad, the platter of miscellaneous sandwiches, the multiple bags of potato chips. It seemed like there was a never-ending supply of food that they produced from the picnic basket.

When it was all set out, the eight of them took seats on the blanket and started eating. Even though the food was simple, it was delicious. Marlie felt right at home with her new friends, better than she had since moving back to La Push. Jacob wasn't sure how he knew that, but after examining her face while they ate and talked and had a good time, he was positive that it was true.

It was such a pleasant afternoon that they didn't really want to leave when the sun started moving down towards the western horizon, over the tops of the enormous trees. But Marlie and Emily packed up the few leftovers and the blanket, they loaded themselves back into the truck, and drove back down the mountain to Emily's house.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Emily offered Marlie as they all climbed out of Sam's truck back at the house. "I would really love for you too." Jacob saw Sam frown, and he felt his own good mood deteriorate. It was excellent that Emily liked Marlie, but it wouldn't be good to make Sam jealous.

Thankfully, Marlie seemed to sense this as well. "Thanks for the invitation, but I've got to get home. Al isn't capable of getting along without me for more than a few hours at a time." She laughed lightly. "But I appreciate the invite, and also the picnic. I had a lot of fun."

"I'm glad you came." Emily replied, giving Marlie a quick squeeze. "Hopefully Jacob will bring you around here often."

Marlie grinned. "I hope so too." She waggled her fingers at the boys. "It was so nice to meet you all." Then she slipped her hand into Jacob's. "Ready to go?" She asked.

"Yeah, we need to get you home before Al starves." Jacob agreed, unable to keep himself from leaning down and kissing her lightly on the lips. They climbed onto the bike and Jacob drove her home.

**I'm 14 weeks, 4 days today. In about another month, I'll get to have an ultrasound and hopefully find out if I'm having a girl or a boy. Now, unfortunately, I have to go to work for yet another double shift (babies are expensive). Please leave me reviews! Love you all! **


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay, I sincerely apologize for my lack of updating. I'm sure you all thought I fell off the face of the planet. Not quite, I've just been stuck working so very very much. And when I get the occasional off day, I'm not going to lie, this is not very high on my to-do list, unfortunately. There's laundry and grocery shopping and house cleaning and so on and so forth. But anyway. I've got an hour break before I have to be back at work, so I thought I would update to keep you all from hating me!**

**Emmerald - I'm glad you like "my Jake!" He's very fun to write about! **

**CuteSango07 - Feel free to keep hitting me with guesses! I'll let you know if you come close to figuring out Marlie's secret!**

**ally leigh - I thought it would interesting to try something not done before when Marlie met the others, so I'm glad you approve! **

**Keep reading and reviewing please! **

Jacob was anxious for the remainder of Saturday and all of Sunday. He almost couldn't wait for Monday; he hopped onto his bike and drove to Al's house, a steady image of Marlie in his mind.

She was waiting for him out front, just as he'd known she would be. She was dressed in her baggy boys' blue jeans again, the pair that was riddled with holes and hung so low on her hips that he could see a sliver of her red panties. She had a bright red tank top on, and her black cowboy boots. Her curly hair was pulled back into a tight braid, her face shaded by her favorite black baseball cap.

Marlie hopped off the back of the truck, where she had been sitting, and strode briskly over to him. Jacob enveloped her in his muscular arms, momentarily lifting her off her feet, and he kissed her deeply on the mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck, entangling her long fingers in his dark hair, and kissed him back. Jacob didn't want to let her go.

"Boy!" Al barked from the porch, and they broke apart quickly, flushing, embarrassed at having been caught in such a compromising position. They turned to face Al; he did not look happy. "Get started on those porch steps. Ann, I need to speak to you inside."

Marlie gave Jacob an exasperated look, winked at him, and then followed her grandfather into the house. Jacob got the tools he needed from the shed and sat down on the steps. From inside, he could hear Al and Marlie arguing.

"Stop being so overprotective, Al!" Marlie was yelling. Jacob had never heard her so angry before, except perhaps when he'd tried to break things off with her. "I _like_ him."

Al was more than furious. "Think about what you're doing, Marlianna Cromwell!" He snarled. "Think about what that boy's family has done to ours! Think about what his _father_ did to _you_!"

Marlie's voice was cool when she answered. "I thought you had forgiven Billy Black. I thought that's why we moved back here."

"I'm _trying_ to forgive him." Al grumbled. "It takes time, Annie. That man cost me my son and he almost cost me you, too."

There was a pause. "It's not like it's easy for me, either, Al." She finally said, and her voice wasn't as angry as it had been before. "I'm not saying I'm going to be best friends with Billy Black. But his mistakes are not his son's. Jacob doesn't even have any idea what happened all those years ago."

"I'm just telling you to be careful." Al told her grudgingly. "For all you know, Billy Black is using his son to get to you."

There was another long pause. "How could you _say_ that?" Marlie's voice was thick with emotion. "I'm happy, Al. Why can't you just be happy for me?" Then she stormed up the stairs; Jacob could hear her heavy footsteps.

Jacob was deeply disturbed by what he'd heard, but he didn't want anyone to know he'd been eavesdropping, even if that hadn't been his intention. Before he really had time to sort anything out in his mind, Marlie stormed out the front door.

"Come on." She muttered crossly. "We're getting out of here."

Jacob set the hammer down on the step. "Why? What's going on?"

"I had a fight with Al." Marlie sounded very bitter. "He doesn't think I should keep seeing you." She raised her voice. "He's _wrong_!"

Jacob took her hands, hoping to calm her down. "Look, if he doesn't think I'm good enough for you, shouldn't we prove that I am?" He suggested. "If I were him, I wouldn't be very happy if he kidnapped my granddaughter and didn't finish the job he'd been hired to do."

She sighed, but the corners of her lips twitched in a semblance of her usual bright smile. "I guess you're right. Well, I'll help you with the steps and _then_ we can get out of here."

Jacob knew it was risky, but he was too curious not to try. "We could go to my house and have dinner with my dad, if you'd like. He's been bugging me about meeting you."

"That would be nice." She agreed, but her smile wasn't completely genuine. This worried him even more.

Jacob worked quickly to finish the steps, and when he'd put the tools away in the shed, he and Marlie climbed on his bike and they drove to his house.

"Sorry I'm so sweaty and gross." He muttered, taking the key out of the ignition and shoving it into his pocket. "I can take a shower if you want me to."

She nuzzled his back through his t-shirt, and he could feel her smiling. "I don't mind. It makes me feel like I'm with a _real_ man." Then she laughed and swung her long leg over the bike. "You can take a shower if you want to, but don't feel like you have to on my account."

He swept her up in a long-limbed, sweaty embrace, pressing his lips into her sweet-smelling hair. She broke free and kissed his lips, one hand trailing lightly down his abdomen. Then she kissed him one last time and stepped away, an impish smile on her lips.

"Let's get this over with." He muttered, holding out his hand to her. She accepted it wordlessly and he led the way into the house. "Dad?" He called, pushing open the front door. "I'm home!"

Billy wheeled himself into the hallway, about to say something. He stopped when he saw Marlie, standing there in her cowboy boots, and his expression changed immediately. He grinned broadly, more cheerfully than Jacob could ever remember seeing him. "Annie Cromwell!" He exclaimed. "It's so good to see you around here!" And he wheeled forward to shake her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Black." She answered stiffly, shaking his hand only briefly.

Billy seemed to notice her cool demeanor just as much as Jacob did, and his smile faltered briefly. He looked suddenly nervous. Then he made a face. "Whew, son, you _stink_!" He teased. "Why don't you run and take a quick shower? I can amuse Annie for fifteen minutes."

Jacob didn't like the sound of that, not with things so tense between the two of them. He glanced briefly at Marlie. She kept her eyes trained stonily on Billy, but she gave a slight nod. "Alright." Jacob mumbled, not liking the way things were turning out.

He went down the hall towards the bathroom, where he turned on the water. Then he crept back down the hallway on silent feet to eavesdrop.

"You look so much like your mother." Billy said to Marlie, warmth flooding his voice.

Marlie's voice remained cool and distant. "Thank you. I only wish she was around so I could admire her beauty firsthand instead of from old photographs." She sighed heavily. "Look, Billy. I don't really want to play this game with you. This has nothing to do with you. You just happen to have an amazing son that I have fallen in love with. It's between me and him, not you."

"I'm glad that something having to do with me can give you happiness." Billy mumbled. Marlie didn't respond, and it looked like the confusing conversation was over.

Jacob jumped in the shower for the briefest of moments, then threw on some clean clothes and rejoined his father and girlfriend in the living room. Things looked tense, but Marlie smiled broadly when he sat next to her on the sofa and asked, "Did I miss anything important?"

"Nope." Billy assured him gruffly, and he promptly wheeled himself out of the room.

Dinner was a tense affair, but eventually Jacob drove Marlie back to Al's house. He perched on his bike and gave her a flat stare. "So what was going on between you and my dad?"

"Nothing." She assured him, rolling her eyes. "Some stuff happened when I was just a kid, which is part of the reason why we moved away from La Push. Anyway," Her eyes twinkled mischievously. "It's part of my secret and I thought we agreed not to talk about our secrets."

He sighed. "Yeah, you're right." He leaned forward and kissed her. "Sam and Emily and the others are having a bonfire Friday night. Emily really wants you to come. So do I, for that matter." He grinned.

She matched his smile. "I'll be there." She kissed him again. "See you Friday!" And she dashed into the house to face her grandfather.

Jacob's mind was troubled as he drove unusually slowly back to his house. He had heard a lot of disturbing things today, not one of which made any sense at all. He wanted to ask Billy about it, see if he could pry anything out of his nosy father, but Marlie had made it clear she didn't want him to know.

Billy was nowhere to be found when he got home, which was just as well, Jacob thought with a sigh. He was tired, exhausted, and the overwhelming need to keep an eye on Marlie was there to top it all off. Just a few hours of sleep, he told himself, crawling into his bed. Then he'd go watch Al's house.

**DUN DUN DUN!! And so the plot thickens! Lol I hope everyone enjoyed this little chapter. It is somewhat important in the overall scheme of things. **

**On another note, I am 17 weeks and 3 days pregnant. That's four months. I go next week for an ultrasound, and hopefully they'll be able to tell if the baby is a boy or a girl. Ian and I have narrowed our list of baby names down to two choices per gender. For girls it's Delilah Jane and Johanna Nicole. For boys it's Connor Dean and Dean Alexander. What do you guys think about those? I'm kind of hoping for a girl, but I suppose a boy would be nice too. : ) **

**Review! **


	11. Chapter 11

**IT'S OFFICIAL! WE ARE HAVING DEAN ALEXANDER ON JANUARY 11, 2010!! WE'RE HAVING A BABY BOY!! **

**I'm really excited. Can you tell? We went out and bought a boy onesie as soon as we got out of the doctors office! We got to see him on the ultrasound and he is just so perfect! I can't wait until January, and I obviously couldn't wait until the end of this post to tell you my good news! **

**Now this chapter is another chapter where the plot thickens. **

**cutesango07 - Yes. Marlie is a fairy. You guessed it. LOL**

**imagineativeness - thanks for the "praise!"**

**ally leigh - I'm glad you liked the chapter despite the lack of action! This chapter is sort of like that too. **

**momokobo - Thank you so much for your amazing compliment! I love to hear things like that! **

It was bright and sunny when he woke up the following morning, and he groggily glanced at the clock. It was nearing ten; he hadn't woken up to go keep an eye on Marlie after all. Cursing himself, he climbed to his feet, ran his fingers through his disheveled black hair, and walked to the phone in the kitchen.

He dialed the number to Al's house by heart, even though he had never called it before. He hoped it wasn't too early to phone.

Marlie picked up after the second ring. "Hello?" She said politely, not sounding sleepy or disturbed at all. This eased Jacob's tension a great deal.

"Hey Marls. It's Jake." He told her.

He could practically hear her smiling. Obviously the awkward encounter from the night before had been entirely forgotten. "Hey you." She replied warmly. "What are you up to?"

"Thinking about you." He answered honestly, then chuckled to himself. When was he _not_ thinking about Marlie these days? He cleared his throat. "I was wondering if you wanted to go into town today. There's a pretty good sized town twenty miles north of here, with plenty of things to do."

"That sounds great." She agreed without hesitation . "When will you pick me up?"

Jacob thought for a moment. "How about in an hour?" He suggested. "Then we can grab some lunch when we get to town."

"Sounds like a plan." She agreed. "I'll see you in a bit."

Jacob hung up, trying to think of how he was going to stand another whole hour away from her. He took a shower, combed his hair, got dressed, trying to make each task take as long as possible. He even cleaned up his room when there was nothing else to occupy his attention.

Finally, he deemed it was alright to go to Al's. He climbed onto his bike and made the familiar drive over. Marlie wasn't waiting for him outside, so he went to the door and knocked.

Unfortunately it was Al who answered the door. Jacob hadn't had to face Al since Al and Marlie had had their argument about him. Al's scrutinizing glare and sneering lips told Jacob that the old man did not easily forget. Jacob forced a smile to his face. "Good morning, Mr. Howard." He said politely; he couldn't ever remember being so polite. "Is Marlie here?"

"No." Al said shortly, and he made to shut the door.

Marlie caught it before it could slam. "Jesus, Al, you're like the rudest human being on this planet." She muttered. "Go back to your crossword puzzles." She shooed him away, then turned an apologetic smile on Jacob. "I'm sorry about him." She said. "He's not a very nice old man."

"Why does he dislike me so much?" Jacob couldn't help but ask.

Marlie frowned as she pulled the door shut behind her, walking over towards Jacob's motorcycle. He was distracted by her charming outfit. It was the first time he had seen her in a pair of blue jeans that actually fit, and boy did they _fit_! Her pale yellow halter top complemented her glowing tan, and, for the first time since Jacob had met her, she was wearing a pair of black ballet flats instead of her cowboy boots. "It's not _you_ Al dislikes." Marlie mumbled, bringing Jacob out of his thoughts. "He'll warm up to you eventually. Just give it time." She assured him.

They made the drive to town quickly, though not as quickly as if Jacob was driving alone. He slowed the bike as they turned into the city limits. "What are you in the mood to eat?" He called over his shoulder to her. Her arms were wrapped protectively around his torso, and every now and then she would run a finger along the line of his well-defined abs. Every time she did so, a small jerk occurred somewhere deep within him. The more she did it, the more the jerk grew into a demanding growl. Jacob wasn't sure if he liked this new feeling or not.

"Mmm… seafood!" She said suddenly, catching sight of a seafood restaurant. "I haven't had good seafood since we left California. But we don't have to go there if you don't want to." She added quickly.

Jacob chuckled, pulling the bike into the restaurant's parking lot. "Please, Marlie. There's no food in the world that I don't like."

She laughed too; she had seen him eat. Jacob could eat as much as a family of four in one sitting. He wrapped his arm around her waist and they went into the restaurant. It was cool and dim in the restaurant, a pleasant change from the hot day outside. Even though it was alarmingly cloudy, the humidity was intense. The hostess sat them at a table in the front room, with a clear view of the street outside. An enormous fish hung on a plaque on the wall above their table, gaping down at them.

They gave their orders to the waitress, who eyed the two beautiful people at her table almost warily before giving them a short smile and disappearing to take their order to the kitchen. Jacob leaned back in his chair, discreetly memorizing every line of Marlie's face. It seemed that every time he saw her, she was more beautiful than the last.

She caught him staring; she always did. "What?" She demanded, the corners of her mouth sneaking up in her favorite smile, her fingers idly fiddling with the wrapper of her straw.

"Nothing." He shook his head, unable to keep a smile from spreading across his face as well. She really brought out the best in him, he thought to himself. "So is there anything in particular you want to shop for while we're here?"

She pursed her lips as she thought. "Hmm. Well I could do with a few more books, as I've read all the ones I've got about a zillion times." Jacob was momentarily reminded of Bella and her fascination with reading, and he was surprised and amazed to find that he felt no pang of remorse or anger anymore. "I could also use a new pair of blue jeans."

"There's a really trendy boutique the next block over." Jacob explained. "I've never been there, but I've heard Emily and Kim talk about it."

The waitress appeared with their food then, pausing only long enough to ask them if everything was satisfactory before dashing off again. The two tucked into their food eagerly; Jacob was alarmed to find that he was starving despite having munched on something for breakfast less than two hours ago.

"Sam and Emily are really cute together." Marlie commented, taking a bite of salad. "So are Kim and Jared. It's like they're just meant to be, you know?" She smiled at the absurdity of what she'd said, and Jacob forced a smile, but he knew all too well just how right she was.

He was about to answer her when a flash of something across the street caught his eye. He glanced in that direction, and immediately he felt his body stiffen, almost reflexively. He waited for the disgusting smell to reach him, to invade his nostrils and make him gag, but the smell must not have been able to penetrate the thick glass of the window through which he was seeing the monster.

A vampire was standing on the opposite side of the street, watching Jacob and Marlie with intense golden eyes. Jacob even knew who she was: Alice Cullen, adopted sister of that blood-sucking leech Edward. Even if Jacob couldn't resent Edward for Bella anymore, he could hate him for what he was.

Alice knew he was staring, but she didn't seem to care. What did she want? Jacob had no business with her. In fact, she would be lucky if he didn't tear her limb from limb and then set fire to her wriggling remains. She was suicidal if she was going to risk confronting him like this…

Jacob's internal rant was stopped short as Marlie moved her head marginally and caught sight of the vampire as well. Her mouth formed a small "o" of surprise, and she dropped her fork. "I'll be right back." She told Jacob, a wide smile spreading across her already cheerful face.

Then, before Jacob could stop her, Marlie disappeared. She reappeared a moment later, on the other side of the glass window. She dashed across the street, her long blonde curls flying out behind her, and practically flung herself into the leech's arms. Alice embraced her warmly, like an old friend. She stroked Marlie's hair and gazed into her eyes and talked, talked so quickly that Jacob couldn't even begin to read the words she was saying.

Alice looked over at the window, and Jacob hurriedly looked away. No matter how quickly he looked away, he knew she would have seen. He saw red flashes of anger; his hands folded themselves into angry fists that could have crushed an anvil. When he risked a glance up again, both Alice and Marlie were gone from the window. Then Marlie was sliding back into her a chair, a cheerful, flushed expression on her face.

"Sorry to rush out like that," She gushed, taking a sip of water from her glass. "I saw an old friend, and I just had to say hello."

Jacob mumbled something, not really hearing what she said. All he could see was Marlie, _his_ Marlie, in the arms of that leech. Alice Cullen was one of the good guys, Jacob wasn't too furious to know that, but he still didn't want to see her. Hadn't the Cullens already taken enough away from him? They had Bella; that was fair. Marlie wasn't.

"Jake?" Her worried voice interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up at her. She wore an anxious expression on her face. "What's that matter? You're not eating…"

He glanced down to find his plate virtually untouched. "Oh, yeah. I'm not very hungry anymore." He wondered if Marlie knew what Alice was. Glancing at her innocent and concerned face, he couldn't imagine that she would. Did he have a right to tell her? That would be partially telling his secret, and Sam would never allow that… Under the table, his hands continued to clench into fists and relax, trying to calm his nerves.

For once, he wasn't upset to leave Marlie at her door when he dropped her off. His head was full, too full of things to think. He drove around La Push, not going anywhere in particular, and eventually he found his way home. Even though it was late when he came in the door, Billy was still up, watching television.

He glanced up when his son entered, and noticed his sour expression immediately. "What's wrong, Jake?" He asked, turning the volume on the television down. "Did you and Annie have another argument?"

"No." Jacob sighed heavily, flopping onto the dilapidated sofa in the living room. "Marlie is friends with Alice Cullen. She called her an 'old friend.'" He was disgusted just saying it. He knew that even if his father knew something, Billy wasn't going to tell him, and it was only going to make his disappointment worse. "I'm going to bed." He mumbled, and stalked off to his bedroom.

**DUN DUN DUN!! **

**(ps. I'm 18 weeks, 3 days today!! Love you all!!) **


	12. Chapter 12

**So sorry for my lack of updating. Since school started I've been kept really busy with work and classes and so on. And what with all the doctors visits, I haven't had a chance to hop on here and update! I apologize and I hope ya'll don't hate me!**

**Ally Leigh: I'm usually horrible with writing suspense like this, where the reader keeps guessing. I though I'd give it a try, and, on the whole, I'm pleased with the way it turned out! I might have to do another story in this style!**

**CuteSango: haha, no Marlie isn't _really _a faerie (though it would be cool if she was). You'll just have to keep reading. It's nearly the end now, so you'll be finding out in the next few chapters or so!**

**NikkiWolfLove09 - thanks for the compliment! I love to hear that people like my writing!**

**The Masaltoff: Thanks! Of all the characters I've written about and whatnot, Jacob and Marlie are two of my favorites. Their relationship just seems so real to me. **

**Emmmerald: I love you. End of story. **

Things seemed much better when he woke up on Wednesday. He was still worried about Alice Cullen of course; besides the whole thing with Bella a few months ago, it was ingrained in his nature to loathe everything about the Cullens. He got up and got dressed, pondering things with a much clearer head than he had had the night before.

He would just keep an eye on her, make sure that nothing happened. He would be able to smell if she'd been hanging out with vampires, so that wouldn't be difficult. Their scent was more potent than anything he'd ever smelled. He spent so much time with her that she wouldn't have a chance to run off to the Cullens, at any rate. The thought cheered him up exponentially, and he was almost in a good mood as he drove over to Al's house.

His mood escalated when he saw Marlie waiting for him on the porch, lying on her back on the porch swing wearing her trusty cowboy boots and her black baseball cap. She was reading a dog-eared paperback copy of some new-age British book, but she looked up when he pulled up on his bike and smiled broadly. She really had the brightest smile, he thought to himself.

"Hey," He called, cutting the engine and climbing off the bike.

She marked her page and tossed her book down. "Hey yourself." She returned, hopping down the porch steps and flinging herself into his arms. He kissed her deeply, feeling every tiny little sensation in each nerve in his body. He could taste her very essence in their kiss, could feel her desire for him, could feel his desire for her all the more potently.

He broke the kiss after a minute, fearing if he didn't he would never be able to stop. Marlie was like a drug he just couldn't get enough of. He kissed her one last time, lightly, on the lips and stepped away. "Al's going to dislike me even more if I don't get a move on." He told her matter-of-factly.

"I've told you before, it's not _you_ Al doesn't like." She pouted, but she didn't put up a fight; she knew he was right.

Al set Jacob to painting the shed, the last thing around the house that Jacob needed to do. Marlie helped him, unusually quiet.

Jacob looked up at her, where she was painting the shed with steady, even brushstrokes. Her brow was furrowed and her mouth puckered into a frown. He momentarily wished he had Edward Cullen's gift of mind-reading, and then he immediately cursed the filthy bloodsucker. "What are you thinking about so seriously?" He asked instead.

"This is the last day you'll have to come over." She answered, not beating around the bush or avoiding the question in any way. Jacob was amazed at her directness; not many people could face problems head on the way she did. "I was just wondering how often you'll be coming over if you don't have to."

He felt a strange sense of relief wash over him. That was all she was worried about? He could have laughed he was so relieved. He set his paintbrush down and took her face in his hands; he left a small smudge of red on her cheek, but neither noticed. "Marlie, as long as you want me here, this is where I'll be. Wherever you are, I want to be there too."

He was afraid she might start crying. Water welled up in the corners of her eyes and a trembly smile tugged at her full lips. Then she crushed her lips to his again, and Jacob didn't have the power to say no. Al had to come out and shout at them before they started painting the shed again.

**Ok, so I think the author's note was longer than the actual chapter. No good. But this is the very last short chapter, save the epilogue. But I promise that I will get chapter 13 up really, really soon. Like next week soon, if all you lovelies review for me. Chapter 13 is good, but chapter 14 is better. **

**Anyway, I love you all!**

**(ps. 24 weeks, 0 days today! check out my profile picture: I'm HUGE!)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay, not so long between posties this time! Yay!**

**Thanks again to all my lovely reviewers for chapter 12: cutesango07, ally leigh, the masaltoff, and hayleee! Reviews make my day! I love you all!**

Jacob didn't transform into his wolf form for the rest of Wednesday and all day Thursday. He knew his brothers were getting annoyed because his thoughts were constantly tuned in to Marlie. When he closed his eyes he could see the golden glow of her skin, the bright luminosity of her big blue eyes, the way her little red mouth puckered when she was frustrated or trying not to smile.

Even though his sentence was over at Al's, he drove over there Friday afternoon to pick her up for the bonfire. He came in Billy's truck, because after the whole thing with the vampire, he didn't feel particularly safe driving her around unprotected at night.

She came out of the house before he could reach the porch. She was alarmingly beautiful; Jacob actually stopped in his tracks to take in the sight of her. He was sure she was getting prettier every day; her straight hair glowed like a halo in the bright afternoon sunlight and her wide, genuine smile was dazzling. Jacob had never been dazzled by anyone before, not even Bella. He found he could even think about Bella with some form of fondness now, which both surprised and pleased him. He was maturing.

"Hey handsome," She greeted him with a kiss on the lips. Jacob moved to deepen the kiss, but she drew back. "Al is watching through the curtains." She whispered with a sly smile. He glanced discreetly at the house, and he saw the flicker of a curtain in the living room window.

"He still doesn't approve of me, does he?" Jacob asked ruefully, climbing into the truck.

Marlie got into the passenger's seat, frowning. "I've told you before that it's not _you_ he doesn't like. He just doesn't handle change very well, and he's been the most important person in my life for years."

"And he's not the most important person now?" Jacob couldn't resist asking.

A smile played at her lips. "Well, he's still very, _very_ important to me. But you're pretty high up there on the list now too." She admitted.

Jacob could live with that. As soon as they were out of Al's line of sight, he put the truck into park and greeted her more thoroughly. He kissed her deeply, heavily, passionately. His hands found their way to the back of her neck, holding her close to him, being careful of his strength. She didn't seem to mind if he crushed her into a million pieces, nor did she care how hot his hands must have been on her body. She kissed him back, entangling her fingers in his longish hair, drawing him closer.

She accidentally let a slight moan escape her throat and Jacob jumped back, fearful at what that tiny sound issuing from her lips had done to his body. What had been a mere dull throbbing somewhere deep in his groin a moment before was now a raging monster clawing its way to get free.

He scooted back to his side of the cab, both of them breathing heavily. He clutched the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. "We should go… to the bonfire." He said quickly.

"Of course. I don't want to keep Emily waiting." Marlie agreed calmly, completely unruffled by the change she had wrought in him. She simply pulled a small hairbrush from her bag and straightened the hair Jacob had managed to muss up during their tussle.

His thoughts were reeling as he directed the truck over the familiar roads to Emily's house, where they were all meeting up before heading up into the woods. But more than thoughts, it was his emotions that consumed him. It felt like he could only contain one emotion at once, and right now, desire was what burned through his veins. It was all he could do not to stop the truck, rip all her clothes off, and take Marlie right there. But Jacob had much more respect for Marlie than that, and besides, with his inhuman strength, he might seriously hurt her. He clenched his jaw. He obviously loved Marlie more than Edward Cullen loved Bella.

Marlie reached over and ran her index finger down the hard line of his jaw. Her soft and gentle touch brought him out of his thoughts. "Are you alright?" She asked. "You look sort of angry about something."

"No. Not angry." He took her hand in his, and the desire to take her faded momentarily. This was an entirely human feeling, he realized, and he would have to learn to control it just like every other adolescent male. "Just thinking."

She scooted closer and leaned into his embrace. Even though he knew he must be making her uncomfortably hot, she didn't move. He wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her close, feeling an immeasurable amount of emotion towards her that now had nothing to do with physical intimacy. "I wish I could hear your thoughts." She murmured absently. Jacob was again reminded of Edward Cullen, and his grip on her waist tightened instinctively. She didn't mention it.

They had barely pulled into the drive at Emily's house before Emily came barreling out the door, anxiously followed by Jared's dark-haired mate Kim. Emily yanked open the passenger side door and practically dragged Marlie out of the cab into her strong embrace. "Oh, I'm so glad you came!" She gushed. "Jacob should have brought you around sooner!"

"She was here not too long ago." Jacob reminded her good-naturedly, climbing out of the truck and joining them by the door.

Emily made a sour face at him. "Please. We all know what you're doing, Jacob Black." She informed him matter-of-factly. "You are keeping this _amazing_ girl all to yourself. Well for tonight, she's _mine_."

"Not _all_ yours." Jacob reminded her sternly. Though he hadn't technically imprinted on Marlie, he had come pretty close and they all knew it.

Emily smiled at him, a friendly smile, and nodded. She knew. Even if she wasn't in the pack and couldn't hear how his thoughts raced from her smile to her eyes to the way her hair blew in the wind to the way she liked to press her face into his back when they rode his motorcycle, Emily knew. She knew because it was how she felt about Sam.

"So where's everybody else?" Marlie asked, missing the silent exchange between Jacob and Emily. She had her arm linked through Emily's, and Jacob was pretty sure she would stay there the majority of the evening.

Emily led the way inside. "They're on their way. Oh, and this is Jared's girlfriend Kim." She introduced the pretty Quileute Indian girl standing awkwardly by the door. "Kim, this is Jacob's new girlfriend Marlie. Although, I guess she's not so new anymore!" And she laughed cheerfully.

Jacob followed them inside. This was going to be a long night, he thought to himself, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thought.

Kim and Paul were the only ones who had arrived at Emily's yet, so Marlie squeezed herself onto the couch between Emily and Kim and proceeded to bombard Kim with questions. Jacob was almost worried that Marlie's out-going nature was going to intimidate shy little Kim, but Kim blossomed under Marlie's interrogation and Jacob could see that Marlie and Kim were going to be fast friends. Emily beamed at this too.

Paul drew Jacob aside, much to Jacob's chagrin. Out of all his brothers, Paul was the one he got along with the least. "Dude, what are you _doing_?" Paul demanded once they were in the kitchen and the three girls squeezed onto the sofa couldn't hear them. "You've known this girl for just over two weeks and you're acting like you've imprinted or something."

"So what if I've only known her for a couple of weeks?" Jacob muttered defensively, not liking where the conversation was headed one bit. "It doesn't change how I feel about her."

Paul opened his mouth to argue some more; Paul was excellent at arguing. Jacob cut him short by ducking out of the kitchen and going back into the living room.

Sam arrived as Paul rejoined them, bringing Jared, Embry, and Quil with him. Jared went straight to Kim, and Jacob felt a certain sting of jealousy. Because they knew that Jared had imprinted on Kim, everyone just accepted that they would always be together. He wished people would feel that open about him and Marlie.

"Alright," Emily announced, disentangling herself from Sam's embrace. Sometimes they were like two parts of the same person. "Since we're all here, let's go ahead and load up the truck. I'd like to get up to the site before it gets too dark."

Kim and Marlie hurried to help her. There were two large baskets this time as opposed to the one they had brought along to the picnic. Emily carried one by herself while Marlie and Kim carried the second between them. They loaded the two baskets into the cab with Sam and Emily, then everyone else clambered into the bed of the truck for the short ride up the mountain.

They reached the site of the bonfire and the boys started the fire while Emily, Kim, and Marlie set out all the food. Then they settled around on logs and blankets and roasted hot dogs over the open flames.

"This is a lot of fun." Marlie said as the evening wore down. Bright stars lit up the velvety sky through the dark foliage of the trees, and a cool breeze blew off the ocean every once in a while to ruffle their hair and send the smoke from the bonfire in a new direction. "I like your friends."

She was sitting on a blanket next to Jacob, his arm wrapped around her waist. Her head was resting against his arm; he was too tall for her to reach his shoulder. "They like you too." He told her. _Except Paul_, he added silently with a grimace.

Across the bonfire, Emily, wrapped in Sam's warm embrace, caught Jacob's eye and winked. Jacob was infinitely grateful that he had her on his side. She was a huge asset.

"Hey, so is everybody up for ultimate frisbee tomorrow?" Jared asked, his arm wrapped around Kim's slender shoulders, his long fingers entangled in her straight black hair. There was a general murmur of consent around the clearing. Jacob felt Marlie nod against his arm, so he agreed with his brothers.

Kim yawned widely then, so Jared suggested they call it a night. They all gathered up their garbage and loaded Sam's truck again. It was a much quieter drive back down the mountain than it had been coming up, and Marlie was practically nodding off against Jacob's shoulder.

When they got back to Emily's house, Jacob and Marlie said goodbye to everyone and climbed back into Billy's truck for the ride back to Al's house.

"Paul doesn't seem to approve of me." Marlie surprised Jacob yet again by how alarmingly observant she was. "He thinks I'm intruding."

Jacob chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, thinking. "It's not that he doesn't like you. Well, okay, he doesn't, but Paul doesn't like many people. I think Sam and Jared are the only ones." He laughed a little at her amused expression. "He just…" He struggled to find words to express something as unexplainable as imprinting. "Do you see how Emily and Sam are, or Jared and Kim?"

"Oh yes, I've noticed." She shocked him by saying. "They always need to be together, touching. It's sweet, really. It reminds me of us." She smiled, then leaned over and pecked him lightly on the cheek.

_Yes_, Jacob thought to himself, entangling his fingers with hers. _It _is_ like us_.

He pulled Billy's truck up in front of Al's house and cut the engine. They were surrounded by the noises of the evening. Owls hooted in the trees, crickets chirped their symphony, and somewhere on the mountain a wolf howled.

"So are you sure you're up for ultimate Frisbee tomorrow?" He asked her, pulling her to him and kissing the top of her blonde head. "My friends can get pretty rough."

She laughed, nuzzling his neck with her soft lips. "Don't you worry about me." She assured him with a grin. "I can hold my own."

Jacob kissed her again, secretly thinking how flimsy and frail Marlie seemed in comparison to his brothers. They were all huge, muscular, and inhuman werewolves. She was so tiny, so delicate. Even compared to Emily and Kim, Marlie was petite and fragile. He hoped his brothers would keep that in mind.

"Okay, well I'd better get in before Al has a heart attack." She pulled away from him with some reluctance, glancing at the luminescent clock on the dashboard. It was a quarter till one. "Bless his heart, he'll wait up for me even if it kills him." She sounded exasperated, but Jacob could detect the fondness underneath.

He kissed her one last time. "I'll pick you up at four, alright?"

"Can't wait." She grinned, blew him a kiss, then scampered up the steps into the house. The front porch light flicked off as the door closed shut behind her.

Jacob had to fight a moment of panic as he watched her disappear. He sat there for a moment, getting his emotions under control, then drove slowly back to his house. He was too wound up to go inside, however, so he stripped off his clothes and phased into his wolf form for a nighttime run.

He heard Jared's voice as soon as he phased. _Dude, you've imprinted. That _has_ to be it._

_It's still different though_, Sam's voice answered. Both their voices were distant; they must have still been up on the mountain. _Not like me and Emily, or you and Kim. _

Jacob let out a low growl of frustration. _Why is this all so difficult?_ He thought miserably. _Why can't I be normal like you two?_

_Maybe it's not _you_ that's abnormal_. Sam's voice sounded loud and clear in Jacob's head.

**Only three more chapters left : (**

**Review a lot for me please! I'm going to miss you all once this is over! **

**25 weeks, 6 days today! Getting huge! **


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello again everyone! Once again I apologize for my lack of updating. Midterms, work, family, boyfriend, etc. have been eating my life, not to mention doctors appointments and shopping for baby things. Anyway, I would like to say thank you to all my reviewers. They really make my day when I get them. I would also like to say that this is a long chapter! Yay!**

**This is also perhaps my favorite chapter, the one all of you have probably been waiting for. But here is my warning: DO NOT READ IF SEXUAL SITUATIONS DISTURB YOU. Consider yourselves warned. **

Jacob's irrational feelings from Friday night had all but vanished when he woke up late Saturday morning. He yawned and stretched. He was longer than his bed these days, and his feet hung off the end. It was more than a little obnoxious, being a seventeen year old stuck in a twenty-five year old's body.

He got up and wandered through the house, looking for his father. Billy was nowhere in sight, which didn't really surprise Jacob. His dad wasn't around very often these days. He fixed himself some fried eggs and toast for breakfast, then meandered to the bathroom to take a shower.

It took forever for the hours to pass, but finally they had, and Jacob could go and see Marlie again. He climbed into the old Rabbit he had restored and drove the familiar route to Al's house. He parked in the drive, climbed the porch steps, and knocked on the door.

It was almost a whole minute before Marlie came to the door. She was wearing a pair of frayed blue jeans ripped with holes; a baggy, paint-spattered t-shirt; and, for the first time since he had known her, a pair of sneakers with hot pink laces. Her curls were pulled back into a loose bun at the nape of her neck, and she was red-faced and eager.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around him and pressing her lips to his eagerly. "I'm glad to see you!"

He allowed her to kiss him for a moment. "What, not worried about Al seeing anymore?" He teased, pushing a stray curl off her forehead.

"Oh yeah, he's out of town." She told him, taking his hand and leading the way out to the truck. "He was worried about me staying home alone." She rolled her eyes as she climbed into the passenger seat of the Rabbit. "He doesn't realize that I'm seventeen now."

Jacob felt that same sort of worry in his chest as he climbed behind the wheel. He didn't think he wanted Marlie staying home alone, either. "You know, if you want, Billy would probably be okay with you staying at our house tonight." He offered, hoping he didn't sound too forward. "I can sleep on the couch."

She gave him a surprised look. "Didn't your dad tell you? He's with Al."

"What?" He was shocked. "My dad is with your grandfather? Out of town?" Why hadn't Billy told him that? Didn't he deserve to know?

She smiled and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "That means we have no curfew tonight!" She sang, and a strange jolt shot through Jacob's body.

He drove the car over to Emily's. It was their unofficial meeting place, he decided as he pulled up behind Sam's truck. They climbed out, and Emily came to the door to greet them.

"You two are the last ones." She said, giving them a theatrical frown. "Let's get a move on. Jared and Quil are bursting at the seams to get the game started."

Marlie slipped her hand in Jacob's. "Is Sam driving?"

"Oh, we can't drive to the field." Emily informed her, motioning to the others inside to get a move on. "We have to walk. You don't mind hiking, do you?"

"Oh no, I love it." She smiled brightly.

The sky was overcast as the six boys, plus Emily, Kim, and Marlie, headed off on an overgrown path through the woods. The boys used it often in their wolf forms, but it was a rare occasion when a human used it. There were paw-prints pressed into the soft dirt of the path.

"It looks like rain." Emily mumbled. She was hiking just in front of Marlie; the path was too narrow for them to walk next to each other.

Marlie looked up at the sky. It was barely visible through the heavy green foliage of the trees above them, but what she could see was a nasty, dark gray color scudded with even darker clouds. A roll of thunder sounded somewhere in the distance. "Can we still play?"

Quil glanced over his shoulder at her and let out a bark-like laugh. "It makes it better!" He assured her.

The field they were heading for was a good ways from Emily's, and the rain had started by the time they were three-fourths of the way there. It was a light drizzle at first, hardly reaching them through the tree branches and glossy leaves.

Then they broke through a gap in the brush and emerged into the field. It opened up before them, a mess of mud and sparsely scattered grass. It was raining more heavily out in the open, big fat raindrops splattering the nine of them.

Quil and Jared both let out wild whoops. "Hell yeah!" Jared shouted, a vicious grin spreading across his rugged face. "This is the _perfect_ weather. Let's skip the whole Frisbee thing and play football!"

After a quick consultation, the boys agreed that this was much better football weather than Frisbee weather, so Sam pulled a worn football out of his bag. Emily and Kim pulled the hoods of their jackets over their heads and settled down on a couple of boulders to watch.

Marlie glanced at them uncertainly. "What? You're not going to play?" She asked. The rain plastered her long blonde bangs to her forehead, so she swiped them back with a silver hair clip. Her paint-covered t-shirt was soaked, showing a glimpse of her hot pink sports bra underneath.

"No way." Emily laughed, wrapping her hands up in the sleeves of her jacket. "The boys get a little rough in their games." She patted the boulder next to her. "Come have a seat."

Marlie hadn't come all the way up there to sit out and watch the boys have fun. "I think I'm going to play." She told Emily, then quickly added, "Don't worry about me. I'm one tough cookie." And she flexed her arm muscles with a laugh. Then she winked at Emily and ran over to join the boys.

"You're going to play?" Sam asked in surprise. He was holding the football, ready to start the game.

Marlie flashed them one of her impish grins, crouching down in the mud in between Quil and Jacob. "You bet I am. I'm not going to let you guys have all the fun."

"Hell yeah!" Quil gave her a high-five, cutting off the protest Jacob was about to voice. "A girl who knows the game. That's my kind of girl. You'd better keep an eye on her, buddy, or I'm going to swipe her right out from under your nose." He warned Jacob with a wicked grin. Jacob just rolled his eyes at his best friend.

Sam shook his head and the game started. It _was_ vicious; Emily hadn't been lying about that. The boys played hard and rough. Luckily for her, Marlie was used to playing that way. She surprised them all by keeping up with them, throwing just as hard as them, and catching every single pass that came her way. She even scored five of the eight touchdowns for her team.

The rain poured down as they played, soaking them all to the bone. The boys had stripped off their shirts, and everyone was so covered in mud it was almost impossible to tell one boy from another. Kim and Emily, sitting on the sidelines, had long lost interest.

Jared threw a long pass across the field. The football arced through the air, a perfect pass, and spiraled towards Marlie. She dodged Paul's tackle and was just about to snatch the football out of the air when Jacob tackled her to the ground. He landed on top of her, all one hundred and eighty pounds of sinewy muscle, and she let out a startled cry.

Then she started laughing, and she leaned up and kissed him. Even though her face was streaked with mud, and her shirt was stained brown, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. As she kissed him, he felt his trouser snake rear its ugly head. His heart started pounding, and he rolled off her immediately before she could feel his spiky hardness poking into her thigh. She looked surprised, but accepted his offered hand and he pulled her to her feet.

Jacob hoped she would forget about the whole incident, but her face was impossible to read as the sun started going down and they all headed back down the mountain. With the failing light, the group had to move much more slowly down the trail for the girls and their human eyes. It was nearing eight by the time they reached Emily's house again, and it was getting fairly dark.

"Are you guys hungry?" Emily asked. It had stopped raining by now, but the yard was a mess. They all picked their way around the worst puddles to the porch. "I know it's late, but I can probably whip up something real fast."

Marlie picked at her mud-caked t-shirt. Her jeans were streaked with mud too, as was her hair. "I think I'm ready for a shower." She glanced at Jacob. "What about you?"

"Sounds like a plan." He agreed. He hadn't bothered putting his t-shirt back on after the game, but he was coated with mud anyway. "We'll see you guys later." He climbed behind the wheel of his car.

Marlie slid into the passenger seat beside him, taking off her sneakers and holding them in her lap. "Are you sure you don't mind getting mud in your car?"

"The seats are leather; it'll wash off." He shrugged. Before Marlie, he might have said his car was the best thing in the world. Now he knew better.

She rested her head on his shoulder as he maneuvered the Rabbit through the deserted streets of La Push towards Al's house. "Today was fun." She rubbed her shoulder and laughed a little. "I'm going to be sore tomorrow, though."

"I'm sorry." Jacob apologized, wishing she had agreed to sit out on the sidelines with Emily and Kim.

She snuggled closer, letting her eyes close. "I'll be fine. I'm tougher than I look." Her mouth spread out in a grin, flashing her teeth. They were alarmingly white in contrast to her mud-splattered skin. "I'll help you clean your car out once we've showered." She promised.

Jacob pulled the Rabbit up in front of Al's house, alarmed to see all the lights off until he remembered that Al was out of town. So was Billy. He inadvertently gulped, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. He took a deep breath and cut the engine.

"Come on, I really need a shower." Marlie laughed, climbing out of the car. She dashed barefoot across the yard, carrying her sneakers in her hand and digging her house key out of her pocket. Jacob followed at a distance, moving slower, his heart pounding. Marlie unlocked the door and flipped on the lights in the hallway, lighting up a narrow corridor with yellow wallpaper and framed photographs.

Jacob had never stopped and looked at the pictures on the wall, so while Marlie flitted around the house turning on the lights, he glanced at them. The first showed a much younger Al. He looked much more Quileute as a younger man. He had his arm wrapped around a woman that was very much _not_ Quileute. She had pale skin and auburn curls. A young man, around thirteen or fourteen years old, stood in front of them. He had much darker skin than his mother, even darker than his father, and the sleek black hair of the Quileute's. Jacob recognized Marlie's straight nose on his face; this must have been her father.

The next photograph was in black and white, and showed Marlie's father several years later. He was posing with his wife, who was stunningly beautiful. Jacob had to look twice to verify she really was as pretty as he thought. She was pale; a Quileute outsider like Marlie's grandmother. That would explain why Marlie didn't look Quileute. She had straight, light-colored hair and almond-shaped eyes framed by heavy black lashes. She was holding a baby in her arms: Marlie.

The last photograph on the wall depicted Marlie as a child. She was missing her two front teeth.

"Oh, don't look at those." Marlie appeared in the hallway again, having dropped her muddy sneakers off on the back porch. "They're from so long ago. I looked like a chipmunk." She laughed, then grabbed his hand and began to drag him upstairs. "Come on. You can have first shower."

She showed him the bathroom at the end of the hall. It was much nicer than he was expecting, with a newly tiled floor and an ornate mirror above the sink. "Towels are here, soap and such is on that rack in the shower. Don't use all the hot water!" She teased, then disappeared.

Jacob's heart was pounding at the thought of being naked in the same house as Marlie, but he _was_ covered in mud so he reached into the shower and turned the taps on. He wasn't wearing shoes, so he unbuttoned his blue jeans and wriggled out of them. They were heavy with mud. He didn't want to drop them on the clean floor, so he put them in the sink. Then, after carefully feeling the water with his hand, he climbed in and allowed the spray to wash over him. The water by his feet, swirling down into the drain, turned dark as he rinsed the acquired muck and mud off his lean body.

He found his thoughts straying, as they usually did, to Marlie. A slow blush crept into his cheeks and his trouser snake stood at attention at the thought that he was standing naked in her shower, and she was somewhere in the house, knowing he was naked...

But Marlie wasn't just somewhere in the house, he realized as the bathroom door opened. She was in the bathroom with him! While he was naked! His trouser snake became even more attentive.

He pulled the vinyl shower curtain aside just enough to poke his head through.

"Sorry to interrupt you." She said, not meeting his gaze despite the puckish smile that turned the corners of her lips. She reached up and untied her hair, allowing the mud-streaked curls to tumble down her back. "I was just thinking. Al's hot water heater doesn't last too long, so it makes a lot more sense for us to take a shower _together_."

Jacob barked a laugh, though it was humorless. Didn't Marlie realize what she did to him, how his body reacted to her? This was not a joking matter.

Her confused expression revealed she wasn't joking.

This was an even bigger problem! How could she expect him to be in the shower with her, naked, and not let his physical desires get the best of him? At just the mention of this unsettling situation, Jacob's erection stiffened even more.

But Marlie wasn't giving him time to discuss it. She pulled her mud-spattered t-shirt over her head, revealing her hot pink sports bra. Her breasts were smaller than what Jacob had imagined, her stiff nipples poking through the spandex material, but that didn't make them any less perfect. What shocked Jacob, however, was the enormous tattoo that started on her front right hip and wound its way around her back to end on her right shoulder blade. It was a mixture of brightly colored stars and purplish-black music notes. It covered her entire side.

She caught him staring as she unbuttoned her dirty blue jeans, and she laughed. "Al doesn't know I have it." She admitted, tracing one of the music notes with her forefinger. "It cost a small fortune and it hurt like hell, but it was worth it."

Then she kicked off her jeans, revealing a pair of black cotton hipster panties underneath. Jacob felt his mouth go dry; he'd never seen this much of his girlfriend before. She reached up and pulled her sports bra over her head, letting her round, perfect little breasts free. There was a very vicious-looking scar on her right breast, about three inches wide but very narrow. Jacob might have asked her about it, but she hooked her thumbs into her panties just then and pulled them off.

He jerked his head back into the shower, yanking the curtain closed. His heart pounded an irregular beat against his ribcage; he was sure it would burst free at any moment.

There was the sound of a cabinet opening, a drawer being opened and closed. Then her hand appeared in the shower, her lovely, suntanned hand with the glittery blue nail polish, the soft knuckles. She grasped the curtain and pulled it back enough for her to step into the tub, directly under the spray of the shower.

Jacob pressed himself against the back wall of the shower, as far away from her as he could get, feeling the cold tiles press against his warm backside. The water droplets plastered her blonde curls to her forehead and neck, clinging to the hollow between her shoulder blades. They ran down the curve of her back, crossing the brightly colored tattoo, rolling over the curve of her rear and down her thighs.

He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, praying for his trouser snake to retreat and praying even harder that she wouldn't turn around and see it. There was no way to hide; he was exposed and vulnerable.

She picked up a bottle of strawberry-scented shampoo and squeezed a dollop into the palm of her hand. As she gently lathered the shampoo into her long, mud-streaked curls, the smell was almost overwhelming to Jacob's overly-sensitive nose. He was grateful when she tilted her head back under the spray, the suds sliding ever so slowly down her smooth skin.

It was getting to be too much for Jacob, who had exerted a great deal of self-control up until this point. He needed to get out of that shower and _fast_.

He opened his mouth to voice this opinion, keeping his eyes carefully averted from anything that would worsen his condition, but Marlie turned around before he could protest. He was faced with her entirety, something he had dreamed about since they'd met but had never imagined would be a reality. His words were cut short; his throat was alarmingly dry.

She looked at him from under heavy lids, that smile curving up her full lips as she very clearly appraised him. She arched one of her perfect blonde eyebrows. "Hey Jake," She asked, her voice as sultry as he had ever imagined. "Would you mind washing my back?" She held out a loufa to him.

He shuffled forward anxiously, slowly closing the gap between them, and he took the sudsy loufa. She turned her back on him and lifted her hair up to reveal her back and that deliciously rebellious tattoo. He reached out with the loufa, the smell of her lavender vanilla body wash pervading his nostrils. He ran it lightly down the curve of her spine; she arched her back and his trouser snake strained even further. He put one hand tentatively on her waist, a shock of electricity shooting through him.

He continued to run the loufa over her smooth skin, and the hand resting on her waist slid cautiously lower to her hip. He could feel the bone through her sun-kissed skin. She leaned back, her bare bottom grinding into his erection almost painfully.

He lost everything then. Still holding the loufa against her spine, his free hand scooped under to cup her sweet spot, and she let out a low moan. The throbbing in his groin intensified a hundredfold. Carefully, ever so carefully, he put one finger inside her. She was hot; hotter even than him. Had he been thinking rationally, that would have surprised him, roused his curiosity even. But he was thinking with his trouser snake now, not his head, and the way she arched her back against him sent him over the edge again.

Dropping the loufa, he turned her around to face him and backed her up against the cool tiles of the shower. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her sharp nails digging into the dark skin there, and her right leg wound its way around his waist. He was so close to being inside her that he couldn't think straight.

She reached behind her and turned the taps off; the water, running clear now, drained out of the tub.

Jacob put one hand under her rear and lifted her up. Her left leg joined her right wrapped around him, like a little monkey. Kissing her deeply, his free hand tangled in her damp hair, he pushed back the shower curtain and stepped out of the bathtub. They stumbled down the corridor, bumping into the walls, and into her bedroom.

He dropped her onto her bed, onto the rose-colored bedspread, and hovered over her. She lay on her back expectantly, looking at him from her heavily-lidded eyes, and beckoned him closer with one crooked finger.

He leaned down to kiss her, careful not to put his weight on her lest he crush her small frame. He trailed his kisses down her jawline, across her collarbone, and down to her right breast. While he lavished attention on it, one of her hands grasped his very thick, very hard member.

Jacob moaned against her breast, moving his kisses lower and lower.

Marlie arched her back as he reached her flower bud and let out a wild animal growl that sounded completely unlike her. "Oh god," She moaned. "Do it, Jake." Her voice was hardly more than a whisper, but he could never have misheard it. "Take me."

He was more than happy to comply.

When it was over, he pulled out of her, drenched in sweat, and rolled to her side. She curled up against him, perspiration glistening on every curve of her sweet, smooth skin. Her heaving chest slowly calmed as she rested her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

It had been everything Jacob had ever imagined, from the way she clawed at his back with passion, the way she screamed his name as she reached her orgasm, the way he had fit her perfectly like pieces of a puzzle.

She nuzzled closer, trailing kisses along his ribcage. "Hey, Jake?" She said softly.

"Yeah?" He tilted his face so he could kiss the top of her head. Her curls were still damp, but he didn't mind.

"I love you." Her voice was light and breathy.

Jacob had imagined hearing those words come from Marlie's lips since they had first met in the forest that day he had caught his paw in the bear trap, but he wasn't feeling the right reaction. The overwhelming gratitude and love and passion were there, oh yes. But those expected feelings were tinged with anxiety and concern. And he knew that he was too dangerous to be with her.

He took his arm away from her shoulder. "Marlie," He began, forcing the words out and hating himself. "This... you know." He gestured at their naked, sweaty bodies entwined in the cream-colored sheets. "It was a mistake. I'm... dangerous. I'm dangerous to you."

Marlie frowned and propped herself up on her elbow. The sheets covering her breasts slipped dangerously low. "Does this have something to do with you being a werewolf?"

"Yes it-" He stopped suddenly, feeling his breath catch in his throat. He turned his steely gaze on her. She was very serious. "How do you-"

She let out her favorite tinkling laugh, brushing a lone curl off her forehead. "Silly Jake." She accused, caressing his cheek lovingly. "I'm one-sixteenth Quileute, you know. I know all the old legends and stories. I've known what you are since the first time we met, in the woods that day when you got your paw caught in the bear trap."

He gaped at her, hardly believing what she was saying. "So you know and you don't... mind?"

"Jake," She leaned in to kiss him deeply on the mouth. "Of course I don't care. I've known what I'm getting into this whole time."

He kissed her back, his hand snaking around her neck. "You know, Marlie, I love you too." And he moved in for round two.

**Yay! I love this chapter. The sex scene isn't too gratuitous, so I hope you don't mind. If you want to know what Marlie's tattoo looks like, go to Google and click on the images option. Search for "star tattoos." It should be the first picture on the second row. You'll probably be able to pick it out. This is the tattoo I would get if I wasn't worried about pain, regret, and stretching. : )**

**Please review! I love you guys!**

**28 weeks, 4 days today. Not much longer now! **


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay, I sincerely apologize for my disappearance. Things have just been so hectic in my life. Thank you all for your reviews on the last chapter. They really make my day and I hope you continue to review even though I have horribly disappointed you all. I LOVE MY REVIEWERS!! **

It was light outside when Jacob woke up; in fact, the sun was nearing its peak in the bright blue sky. He expected to find Marlie curled up next to him, her glorious body pressed against his, but her side of the bed was empty. He couldn't even smell her on the sheets.

Before he could get worried, she appeared in the doorway. She was wearing a pair of stonewashed skinny blue jeans and a silk short-sleeved red blouse, and she had straightened her hair. The blonde locks hung all the way down past her shiny black belt. She had a bright smile for him, her cherry lip gloss matching her red shirt perfectly.

"Hey there." She crawled across the bed and pecked him lightly on the lips; he could taste her lip gloss. "Emily phoned about an hour ago. We're supposed to go over to her house for lunch."

He leaned back against the pillows. He was exhausted, even after sleeping for so long; every muscle in his body ached. "We have a while then," he said, thinking about how quickly he could make love to her.

"Think again." She crawled off the bed, straightening her blouse. She pointed at the digital alarm clock sitting on the bedside table. "It's a quarter after twelve already. We need to get a move on, especially if we're going to stop by your house to get you some clean clothes." She looked pointedly at his nakedness. "So get dressed and we'll get a move on." She disappeared to finish her makeup in the bathroom.

Jacob got to his feet, taking in the destroyed bed for a moment. The comforter lay in the floor, the fitted sheets had been torn off the mattress, and somehow a hole had gotten ripped in one of the pillows. He shrugged, then ambled down the hallway to the bathroom, where he had left his clothes the night before. He pulled on his muddy blue jeans, forgoing shoes and his t-shirt if he was just going home to get clean clothes.

Marlie set down her eyeliner and turned to face him, unusually serious. "Listen, Jake, we need to talk," she said, not quite meeting his eyes. "Since you know now that I know your secret, I think it's only fair if you know mine."

Jacob frowned; he could see that this was really bothering Marlie. "Listen," he suggested, brushing a piece of straight hair off her cheek. "How about we discuss it after lunch at Emily's? That way we can sit down and have a real discussion."

"Alright." She nodded, smiling shortly, brushing her lips against his.

He held out his hand to her. "Let's get a move on or Emily will have our hides."

Marlie shoved her feet into a pair of red ballet flats and the two of them left Al's house, locking the door behind them. Even though the mud on the leather seats was dried, they spread towels out across them before they got in.

It was a quarter till one when Jacob pulled the Rabbit up Emily's drive, dressed in clean jeans and a t-shirt. There were no other cars there; none of the other boys had bothered to drive.

Everyone was sitting outside, waiting for them, when they pulled up. Quil, Paul, Embry, and Sam were squeezed around the picnic table by the front porch, laughing and joking with one another. Jared was perched on the porch steps, Kim sitting precariously in his lap. Emily stood next to them, leaning against the railing with her arms crossed over her white button-up sundress, her dark silky hair pulled back off her face.

"You two are late," Emily accused, narrowing her dark eyes. "You were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago."

Marlie gave Jacob a playful shove. "_Somebody_ didn't want to get up this morning," she teased.

"Well come on," Emily gestured, her grimace replaced by a genuine smile. "Kim, Marlie, come help me bring the food out."

The three girls traipsed into the house and emerged laden with platters of the simple but delicious food Emily was well-known for. They set it all down on the picnic table, then filled their plates and found places to sit. Some of them managed to get spaces at the table, others squeezed onto the porch steps, and Quil and Embry took the two folding chairs in between the porch and the picnic table.

The afternoon was hot, and once they had finished eating, the nine of them lounged around the yard, chatting pleasantly and enjoying one another's company. Jacob had almost completely forgotten about hearing Marlie's secret later.

Quil had just told a particularly entertaining joke when Jacob suddenly remembered. "Oh, you guys!" he said excitedly. "Marlie knows about the werewolf thing! She's known all along."

"How do you know?" "When did you figure it out?" "The _whole_ time?"

Marlie blushed pleasantly. "Everybody seemed to want to avoid the topic, so I figured I wouldn't bring it up," she admitted, leaning into Jacob's embrace.

Sam stood up suddenly, his nose twitching, unexpectedly serious. It took a second longer for Jacob to catch the scent, and the others not long after. The stench of a leech was on the air, _very _nearby. It had crossed the border, broken the treaty. Jacob stood up too, a low growl emanating from somewhere deep within.

"Emily, get Kim and Marlie inside," Sam growled through clenched teeth, shimmering as he prepared to phase.

Marlie stood up abruptly. "No," she said shortly. "It's not a problem. She's not here to hurt anybody, or break the treaty the Quileutes have with the Cullens."

"What?" Jacob stared at her; they all did. How did she know about their treaty with the Cullens, or exactly what was coming towards them?

Marlie didn't elaborate, just turned to her boyfriend and took his face between her hands. "Whatever happens, Jake," she said solemnly. "I didn't mean for you to find out this way. I didn't mean for anybody to find out this way."

Before Jacob could demand an explanation, the brush on the outskirts of Emily's yard parted and a figure emerged. She was a young girl, alarmingly beautiful. Her entire body was obscured by a thick black cloak, but her face, stunningly pale, glittered like a million diamonds. Her blood red eyes were trained directly on Marlie; her stone-cold mouth turned up in a wicked smile.

Marlie took a step towards the vampire; Jacob lurched after her instinctively, but she held up her hand to stop him. "What the hell are you doing here, Jane?" she demanded in a cool voice, never taking her eyes off the beautiful leech.

Wait, Jacob thought to himself. How did Marlie know the blood-sucker's name?

The vampire pushed her hood back, revealing long, luxurious hair. "You failed to present yourself in Italy at the appointed time," she said smoothly, never taking her eyes off Marlie. "The Volturi sent me to find out why."

"I _forgot,_" Marlie said coolly, balling her hands into fists at her side.

Jane closed the gap between them. "It doesn't matter why you didn't show," she answered. "The fact is, you didn't. So I'm here now to follow through with our bargain."

Marlie didn't look over her shoulder, but she directed her comment to Jacob. "Jake," she said, her voice trembling despite her obvious effort to control it. "I didn't mean for you to find out this way. I was going to tell you."

Jane's face lit up, and she turned her blood red eyes to Jacob. "You mean he doesn't know? Your lover-boy doesn't know what you are?"

"Shut up," Marlie snapped. "Just do what you came here for. Jake, whatever happens, don't move an inch."

Then Jane grabbed Marlie and sank her teeth into the soft flesh of her neck. Jacob let out a wild yell and launched himself forward, but Quil and Embry were there to hold him back. He struggled against them, stronger than either of them but not strong enough to overcome both.

Marlie finally met his eyes and held up one hand. "Don't," she muttered weakly.

Jane continued to drink, making hungry sucking noises. Marlie slowly grew limper and weaker in Jane's stone grasp; her eyelids drooped heavily; her body sagged.

Then Marlie abruptly brought her fist up and hit Jane in the jaw. There was a resounding crack as her fist connected with the vampire's face, and she stumbled back several feet, clutching her jaw painfully. "Are you going to drink _all_ my blood, you bitch?"

Jacob stopped struggling against Embry and Quil. Marlie had just been bitten by a leech, infected by the venom, but she wasn't writhing in pain. Something was definitely off, but he had no idea what.

"Please," Jane muttered, rubbing her jaw and scowling. "Werewolf blood is the most disgusting taste in the world."

The word hit Jacob like a ton of bricks. If Marlie _was _a werewolf, that would explain how she knew all about them. But vampire venom was like poison to werewolves; it would kill her quickly, and Marlie was showing no signs of being near death. Something was still very, very wrong here.

Marlie wiped the droplets of blood off her neck and glared at the leech.

Jane turned her attention to the assembled crowd of werewolves and a slow grin spread across her sparkling face. "Your new _friends_ don't know what you are, do they? The type of monster they're spending time with?"

There was a grinding, crunching noise and suddenly Jane was screaming, stumbling backwards. Marlie was holding the leech's right arm in her hand, completely detached from the blood-sucker's body.

"Get out of here," Marlie snapped, throwing the detached arm at Jane with vengeance. "And don't cross the border again."

With a final, glowering look, Jane took her arm and disappeared. The stench lingered for a moment, then dissipated too.

"Marlie?" Jacob asked, his voice cracking.

She kept her back turned to them for a moment, regaining her composure. When she finally turned around, her face was eerily composed and straight. "I'm sorry she came here," she said coolly. "She wasn't supposed to."

Jacob meant to ask how Marlie knew the vampire, but he blurted out, "What _are_ you?"

She took a deep breath, not meeting his searching gaze. "I am a hundred times worse than you, but a million times better," she finally said, a sort of feverish excitement in her voice. "I'm a... monster."

"What-" Jacob stammered, but she cut him off.

She pulled her silk blouse down alarmingly low, revealing the long, narrow scar on her breast. "Ask your dad," she muttered, then she allowed her shirt to fall back in place and she turned her gaze once more. "I'm sorry, Jake. I really am. I was going to tell you."

Before anyone could stop her, she had disappeared into the forest. After a brief moment, none of the werewolves could even hear her anymore.

A long moment of silence followed. Sam broke it. "I think we need to pay a visit to your father, Jake. Emily, Kim, get inside and stay there until we get back."

Emily, solemnly grim, grabbed Kim's arm and dragged her into the house. The door shut firmly behind them.

The boys stripped off their clothes, tying their jeans to their legs, then phased to their wolf forms. It was their fastest mode of transportation, after all. Six enormous wolves were soon pounding their way through the forest in the direction of Billy Black's house. Upon reaching the yard, they phased back to human, pulled on their trousers, and stormed up the steps and into the house, not even sure if Billy was back from his trip yet.

They found him sitting in the kitchen, eating a sandwich. His overnight bag sat in the hallway; he must have just gotten home. He glanced up cheerfully when he saw the assembled boys. "Hey there, fellas," he said, then frowned as their solemn expressions reached him. "What's going on? Did something happen?"

Jacob slid into the chair across the table from his father. Sam and Jared took the other two chairs, while Paul, Quil, and Embry crowded close. "Dad, we need you to tell us everything you can about Marlie Cromwell."

Billy set his sandwich down and frowned. "I think it would be best if Annie told you that herself."

"She told us to ask you!" Jacob couldn't hide his irritation, slamming his palm down furiously on the table. "Now I _know_ you know!"

Billy tossed down his napkin and scooted his wheelchair away from the table a few inches. He took a deep breath. "Alright, well this is a rather long story," he admitted.

"Back when I was a kid, Danny Howard was my best friend," he said, frowning. "We were born just months apart, and my dad and Al were good friends, so we grew up together. He would do anything for me, and I honestly would have done the same for him. Danny was also the last werewolf before Sam here."

Sam interrupted. "I thought my grandfather and your grandfather were the last werewolves of the tribe."

"Nobody really counts Danny Howard as a member of the tribe anymore, not after what happened." Billy shook his head sadly. "But he was the last Quileute werewolf." He trailed off then, lost in his own thoughts.

Quil leaned forward eagerly. "So, what happened?"

Billy looked up at him, almost surprised to find himself surrounded by six eager teenage werewolves. "Danny met Gwendolyn Cromwell, that's what happened. He imprinted."

There was another long pause during which he did not continue, so Jared said, "What's wrong with imprinting? Sam and I have both done it."

Billy again looked surprised to see them surrounding him, listening eagerly to his story. "Gwen was a vampire."

A collection of shocked gasps rippled through the assembled werewolves. "That's impossible!" "That's not natural!" "That could never happen!"

"We didn't think it could happen, either," Billy agreed, shaking his head sadly. "But it did happen. It went against all our instincts, the tribe's whole reason for being, but it happened. Danny was undeniably and unbelievably in love with Gwendolyn Cromwell."

Nobody spoke for a moment, lost in their own thoughts, in the implications of a werewolf imprinting on a vampire. It was almost impossible to wrap their minds around the very concept.

"Danny knew the tribe would disapprove of his love for Gwen, even if he couldn't help imprinting on her," Billy finally continued. "She wasn't bad, you know, for a blood-sucker. She came from somewhere far up north, and she was staying with the Cullens when she and Danny met. She was trying to train herself to their 'vegetarian' way of life. But the two of them, knowing they could never be fully accepted by the tribe, moved just off the reservation and built a house there. Then the unthinkable happened: Gwen got pregnant."

Sam interrupted again. "That's impossible, Billy. A male vampire might be able to procreate with a human, but a female can't. Her body is dead; it can't change and grow and accommodate a living organism."

"That's what we thought, too," Billy agreed. "Nobody ever really explained how it happened, either. There has never, in the history of either of our kinds, been a child like that. There hasn't been one since. Marliana is alone, the only one of her kind in the whole world. Half vampire and half werewolf, but the most important question was, which half of each did she get?"

Another silence fell among them as they waded through their thick, heavy thoughts.

Billy frowned. "Things were crazy in La Push after Marliana was born. I can only assume the vampires were just as worried about her as we were. Nobody knew what she would be capable of.

"It was my grandfather who made the mistake, but I can't lay the blame entirely on his shoulders," Billy continued wearily. "There was a whole group of us, and we ransacked their house outside the reservation, beyond the border. We captured Danny, held him against his will. Even with the pack leader's orders, he was hard to contain. Then, while Danny watched, we killed Gwen."

A small shudder went through his body at the memory, and Jacob felt sick to his stomach.

"We wanted to make sure she was good and gone, so we ripped her limb from limb and burned the pieces out in the woods," Billy went on, his voice trembling. "She didn't even fight back. She knew how much Danny cared for us, and she refused to hurt anything he cared about." His voice caught, and he had to take another moment to compose himself.

When he had calmed himself enough to continue, he said, "Danny left La Push that day. We found him again three days later. Sometime in those three days, he had killed himself."

"But what about Marlie?" Embry broke the silence that had fallen once more.

"Danny and Gwen had taken Marlie to stay with the Cullens for a while," Billy said. "The Cullen women had grown very fond of Gwen and even fonder of her daughter. Even the men thought of her as family. And we weren't about to go to Cullen land to get her back."

"So what happened?" Jacob demanded.

His father shrugged his shoulders. "The blood-suckers are ruled by what they call the Volturi. They're sort of like vampire royalty, from what I understand. And apparently, after Danny and Gwen's deaths, the Volturi seemed to think along the same lines as we did: that Marliana Cromwell was dangerous. The Cullens were convinced that the Volturi were going to show up and try to kill Marliana, so they brought her to Al to keep safe."

"So Al took her to California?" Paul demanded.

Billy shook his head. "Not right away. She'd been in La Push for about a month, and it was clear to everyone who had seen her that something wasn't quite right. She had the stone-like body of a vampire, but with the warmth and softness of a werewolf. She was inordinately strong; she could probably snap any one of you in half with her little finger. She liked to eat raw meat and she liked the taste of blood. She was faster than either vampire or werewolf, stronger than either. We knew that if she wanted to, she had the powers at her disposal to destroy all of humanity. We couldn't let that happen."

He lapsed into silence again, his face turned downward in obvious agony, battling an inward torture. Jacob lay a hand on his father's shoulder gently. "What happened, dad?"

"I was visiting Al one day. He thought I was there to mourn Danny with him," Billy finally said. "When he stepped out of the room to answer the telephone, I grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Marliana in the chest. I stabbed her three times, right in the heart. She screamed and Al came running, but I hadn't done any damage. The wound healed up immediately, though I've heard it left a nasty scar."

Jacob's mind flashed to the scar on her breast and he thought he might be physically sick. He had to close his eyes and force his queasy stomach to calm.

"That's when Al took her and moved to California," Billy explained. "It soon became clear, not only to us here at La Push but to the Volturi as well, that if Marliana didn't want to be stopped, she couldn't. We also learned that Marliana had no intentions of being what we all feared. She just wanted to live a normal life, and it seems that I have done everything in my power to prevent her from having that." He looked very shaken up again. "But not anymore. I may have helped murder her parents and I may have tried to kill her, but I also convinced Al to bring her back to La Push, where she belongs. And now she has you." He turned to look at his son.

Jacob was startled. "Me?" he repeated.

"You've imprinted on her." Billy explained.

Sam frowned. "But it's different from me and Emily, or Jared and Kim."

"Of course it's different," Billy agreed. "It's not a human and a werewolf imprinting; it's a werewolf-vampire and werewolf imprinting. It's different because she's imprinted on you, too. It's twice as strong, twice as potent, and twice as dangerous."

Jacob leaned back in his chair. If he had imprinted, and he believed his dad when he said he had, then it didn't matter what Marlie was or what had happened in her past. He needed her and she needed him, and nothing could come between them.

"I think I ought to pay Marlie a visit," he said calmly, climbing to his feet.

Sam put out a hand to stop him. "I think you should wait," he said, then hurried on when he saw Jacob's mutinous expression. "You know that none of us will stand in the way, not if you've imprinted. She's probably really embarrassed right now, though, so I would give her some time to calm down."

"There's something I've been wondering," Jared spoke up, leaning against the back of Jacob's chair. "If Marlie is part werewolf, does she phase like we do?"

Billy nodded. "I think so. From what Al has mentioned, I would guess so."

"How come we don't hear her thoughts when she's phased?" Jared asked. "I mean, what are the chances that none of us has been phased at the same time she has?"

The elder man shifted his weight in his wheelchair. "She's not part of your pack," he explained. "The vampire blood running through her veins prevents her from ever being a member of your pack, and different packs can't hear one another's voices."

"I guess the real question is if Marlie will still want you," Quil said. Jacob whirled on him, only to be met by a wide, taunting grin.

**Okay, there you go. You know about Marlie's past and what she is. I don't know if any of ya'll were expecting this but here it is! And this was written right after I read New Moon the first time, so I had no idea about what happens in Breaking Dawn. **

**Also, I have just about a month left before my little angel is due. I'm freaking huge, of course. You can see that in my profile picture. I'm the size of a whale, but I can't wait for my little man to be here! **

**Please leave reviews! **


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm sorry that you guys had to wait so long for this last chapter, which is really more of an epilogue anyway, but I think you'll forgive me. I HAD A BABY!! My precious darling was born on January 14, 2010. He's a week and a half old today and he is my entire world. But my mom is watching him for a while cause I needed a little time to myself so I am taking the opportunity to post this! (btw, my new profile picture is of my darling! Isn't he precious??)**

It was a quarter after midnight when Jacob loped up to Al's house on the other side of La Push. All the lights were off save for a blueish computer-screen glow coming from the window he knew, from experience, was to Marlie's bedroom.

He phased back to human and pulled his blue jeans on, fastening the button and doing up the zipper before he stepped out of the trees. Then he picked up a perfectly round pebble from the drive, tested it in his hand, then threw it flawlessly at the window. The pebble made a clinking noise against the glass before falling back to the earth.

There was a few moments where nothing happened, then Marlie appeared at the window. She was wearing a pair of pajama shorts and a camisole that hung low on her bra-less frame, revealing the scar on her left breast. Jacob shuddered at the knowledge of where that scar had come from.

She pushed the window up and leaned out. "What?" she called down in a wary whisper. Her voice floated on the summer air, thick with the coming thunderstorm.

"We need to talk," he didn't bother raising his voice; he knew her perfect ears would be able to hear him.

She frowned, then put a leg out of the window and jumped out. Even though it was from the second story, she landed calmly on all fours, like a cat. She got back to her feet and brushed her hands off on the seat of her shorts. "Yes?" she asked, looking for all the world like a chastised child.

Jacob was filled with an overwhelming sense of compassion for her that had nothing to do with imprinting. He grabbed her and crushed his mouth to hers, trying to convey his feelings without words. He sort of sucked at words anyway.

She was surprised; he could feel the tension in her muscles, the stiff way she held her body next to his. But their need to be together was too overwhelming; it was like she melted into him, and they became one.

They finally broke apart. Jacob had had a whole speech planned out, to tell her he didn't care that she was half vampire and that he was sorry his dad had helped murder her parents and tried to kill her too, but it seemed that it wasn't necessary. She knew it.

"Do you want to hunt?" she asked cautiously, tucking a lone piece of hair behind her ear.

Jacob grinned in response.

She phased so fast that he couldn't even catch it. She was standing there one moment, and then an enormous white wolf had replaced her, shards of her nightclothes scattering on the night wind. She took off into the woods, barking playfully. He leapt after her, phasing mid-step, and the two of them disappeared into the woods.

**So I hope you liked it. I know it was a sappy ending, but I'm all about happy endings. I don't do sad or unsatisfactory endings. And I thought this would be the end of it, but a lot of people have been asking me to continue so I'm thinking I might. I've also recently been introduced to a new movie called "Ten Inch Hero" (no it's not a porno even though I know it sounds like one!) that I absolutely love and I might focus on writing a fanfiction for that but I'm not sure. What do you guys think? I LOVE YOU ALL AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR KEEPING ME SANE THROUGHOUT MY PREGNANCY! HOPEFULLY YOU'LL ALL CONTINUE TO KEEP ME SANE WHILE I WAIT FOR MY BABY TO SLEEP COMPLETELY THROUGH THE NIGHT!! **


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